She who is one with the darkness
by the guy in your attic
Summary: the organization return and take a young keyblade wielder as their prisoner, forcing her to unlock the worlds and recreate kingdom hearts, until she escapes. now she and another wielder must re-lock the worlds and stop organization XII... again.
1. Chapter 1 :Prisoner

My first kingdom hearts fic and my first fiction in general. I hope you enjoy and don't forget to review

* * *

A girl had been laying on the cold floor of her cell in the extremely white castle while listening to the conversation between two men wearing those black robes she was tired of seeing.

They had taken off there hoods so she had a good look of there faces.

one of them had blue hair that that reached his shoulders in length, he had an odd looking scar that made the shape of an X on his nose.

The other one had a gigantic ponytail that almost touched the floor and an eyepatch covering his right eye. The two of them had been talking for some time but she couldn't understand a word.

Until the man with the ponytail had came to her cell and looked her in the eyes, she just sat there and glared at him.

He chuckled. "i don't get it" he said. "why bother keeping a prisoner when we can just turn her into a heartless?" "could save us a lot of time if her nobody was on our side"

the man with the blue hair walked next to him "do you remember roxas, xigbar?"

"of course I remember him, saix"

"the organization cannot handle another traitor" saix said "besides, lord xemnas has ordered that she keep her heart" he glared at her, she was tempted to yell at him but she didn't, she could tell by the way he spoke, words would have no effect on him.

She had been in this place for who knows how long, sometimes she would be released but only when they wanted her to slay those weird black things they called heartless with a keyblade.

Since keyblades had been the only thing this organization talked about, it was rather easy to assume she was here because she could use one. It was a weird weapon that was for sure, who would use a key as a weapon?, but it was pretty effective, It destroyed those heartless in one hit, it must have been strong... or her enemy's were just really weak. Her train of thought was ruined when a man with rockstar hair came running into the room, Stopping for a bit so he could catch his breath.

"demyx, what is it" saix said "this better be important" he sounded annoyed

"the others are awake" he said as he panted, he must have ran really far "xaldin and lexaeus are holding marluxia down"

"perfect, I will want to speak with him personally" they all walked out of the room and the little keyblade user was left alone in her small cell, she lied down on the floor trying to make herself comfortable and drift into sleep. It was hard to tell time here since this place seemed to have an endless night. Eventually she fell into a deep sleep and began to visit her sanctuary, her dreams.

* * *

_**she was on a bright tropical beach and the sun was shining down on her. She could hear the sound of seagulls as they flew over her. The ocean was crystal clear and the sky was free of clouds. She could smell the sweet scent of the salt-water as the waves gently crashed on the sand. A boy in black baggy shorts and a black jacket was seen standing ankle deep in the water. He had gravity defying spikey brown hair and big eyes that seemed to be a shade deeper blue then the ocean. He slowly made his way onto the shore and looked the girl in the face. He spoke only two words "wake up"**_


	2. Chapter 2 :Another Quest

Sora was siting on the bent palm tree that held the infamous paupu fruit, his gaze was turned to the sight of the setting sun. it had only been three days since he returned to destiny islands. His home.

It had taken a while to give a proper explanation to everyone (including sora's mother) as to where he was for two whole years, most people didn't believe him saying that he was probably playing a childish prank that got out of hand. He was grounded and that was understandable but he was still disappointed that his own mother didn't believe him _**but then again how many kids can say hey mom I just saved the world from an evil darkness! also I had help from a talking duck, a dog, and a mouse, **__**and my sword is a gigantic house key!**_ He chuckled. She probably would have sent him to an insane asylum.

Riku walked up to the bent palm tree and leaned on it like he usually did. Wearing his baggy jeans and a white sleeveless vest. Sora turned to face his childhood friend/rival and asked a question.

"hey riku, what do think it was?" "the door to light." sora said as he got off the bent old tree. Riku turned to face sora "this." riku said as he pointed to sora's heart. "this?" sora said as he touched the flesh that covered his heart. "Sora! Riku!" sora turned his head and saw the redhead know as kairi walking over to them carrying a bottle with a small note inside it. He took the bottle from kairi, opened the note and began to read out loud as his two friends huddled around him.

**Dear Sora**

**something odd has happened and requires your attention.**

**I know you have only recently returned from your journey and I apologize for the inconvenience but I have began to question the stability of the worlds.**

**forgive me for ending this letter with unexplained questions but these matters must be discussed face to face. A portal to my tower shall open here at dusk tomorrow, prepare yourself**

**-sincerely**

**master yen-sid**

**p.s. come alone**

"well that can't be good" sora said, obviously discouraged by the letter. He just got home and now he was supposed to go off on another long quest, well at least he could see donald and goofy again.

"we should head back" riku said as the three looked to see the sun was gone. "oh no!" sora said frantically "my mom is gonna kill me!" sora said as he remembered that she had grounded him.

Kairi and riku stood there laughing as sora began running towards the row boats. Kairi then doubled over in laughter as sora triped and fell face first into the sand, riku only gave a small chuckle. Sora was still the happy go-lucky kid he was seven years ago.


	3. Chapter 3 :Dreams and flashbacks

Sora had sneaked back into his home just seconds before his mother had entered his room to check on him. She said goodnight to him since it was almost midnight. Sora yawned, he was exhausted since he had ran for what seemed like miles. He fell into his bed after he changed into his pajamas and knocked out.

* * *

**Sora was standing ankle deep in the clear blue water of destiny island. he could smell the familiar scent of salt-water and he could feel the cool waves as they crashed lightly on the beach. Feeling an odd presence behind him, he turned around only to find a silver haired girl staring at him with beautiful crimson red eyes. Her silver hair reached the bottom of her waist in length. She was fairly slender and rather pale but she had to be the most attractive girl sora had ever seen. It was like the sun itself was kissing her skin as the light bounced off her, making her shine brightly in his eyes. Sora felt strangely attracted to this mystery girl. He began to walk closer to her until he was face to face with her, his body preventing the sun from kissing her skin. He looked deeply into those hypnotic red eyes but all he could see in them was a deep sadness.**

"**who are you" he said. She didn't speak.**

**He reached out to touch her but his hand only seemed to go through her when his fingers came into contact with her cheek. She began to fade away into darkness as sora desperately tried to get grip on her, his hands passing through her every time. "please don't leave!" he shouted but she just stood there, as the darkness began to consume her. and then...**

**she was gone. **

**Sora fell to his knee's as soon as she vanished "come back" he said softly as the world faded around him.**

* * *

Sora jerked out of bed as soon as his odd dream ended, sweat dripping down his brow. That was the weirdest dream he ever had. He felt so drawn to that girl, almost as if she was tugging on an invisible rope that was tied to sora's waist.

And those eyes, those big beautiful eyes. She was like a... like a... like a female riku.

"_**whoa where did that come from?" **_sora heard the familiar voice of roxas deep in his mind. His nobody would often talk to him since the two shared the same mind. Sora did enjoy talking with roxas and he would have really liked to actually hangout with roxas in real life.

"_nowhere I was just thinking"_

"_**like a female riku?, what does that mean?"**_

"_nothing, its just... that's just what she reminded me of"_

"_**sure dude" **_roxas said sarcastically.

"_whatever"_ sora thought.

"_but did you see her? She was beautiful"_

"_**she was. but you need to remember, you love kairi"**_

"_I know. I was going to tell her that, that was why I was on the island, I was trying to gain confidence"_

"_**remember dude... sokai"**_ roxas said, reminding sora of the stupid name tidus had given to the soon-to-be couple.

Sora laid back down on his bed and tried to go to sleep so he could see the dream girl again. He had mastered the ability of lucid dreaming so he could hangout with roxas deep inside the privacy of his mind.

Sadly his attempts to recreate the dream girl failed and he just dreamed of himself on the clock tower of twilight town instead, eating sea-salt ice cream with roxas.

* * *

Riku was in his bathroom brushing his teeth before he made himself ready for bed.

He climbed the ladder that helped him get to his loft bed and drifted off into sleep.

_**Riku was having another one of those dreams that felt like a flashback only it wasn't his flashback. It was the memories of a keyblade user by the name of terra. He had been dreaming of terra ever since he returned to the islands. The flashbacks began to race though his sleeping mind.**_

"_**i know. you me and ven all share the same dream."**_

"_**the darkness. Where did it come from?"**_

"_**you were spying on me? Is that what he said to do? The masters orders?"**_

"_**don't worry ven, when I need you, you will know"**_

"_**you saw the masked boy?"**_

"_**vanitas"**_

"**has the darkness taken you, terra?!"**

"**you will not heed your master?!"_ "i won't!"_**

"_he's an abomination beyond hope of salvation" "right this wrong that I have wrought"_

"_**master eraqus!"**_

"_**you will pay Xehanort. Was my master, no my father, not enough for you?!"**_

"_yes boy! Feel that rage! Let it IMPOWER YOU!" **"XEHANORT!"**_

"_and now it shall be your darkness that shall be the arc that SUSTAINS ME!"_

"_**THIS WILL TEACH YOU! GET OUT OF MY HEART!" (****AN:**_birth by sleep quotes for the win!_**)**_

* * *

riku hit his head on the roof after he jolted out of his sleep. That flashback was longer than usual.

Who was that bald guy? Why did ven look like roxas? And what did he mean when he said get out of my heart?.

Riku saw the sun rising oven the roofs of the houses, he was awake anyway, no sense in going to bed now.

He walked over to his dresser and opened the top drawer. Pulling out his dream journal which was divided into three sections. Dreams, nightmares, terra's memory's. He began to write down the latest memory's of terra until he was interrupted by the sounds of knocking on his bedroom door. "riku are you okay?" "yeah dad, I'm fine" riku shouted at his father who was on the other side of his bedroom door. "i have to leave for work early riku, i'll be back later" riku's father said.

Riku's family was divorced, he never knew his mother, though he wished he did. He was also told that he had a sister.

This was where his desire to see other worlds came from, he wanted to search all over for his mother and sister, but now maybe he should just give up, maybe his mother didn't even want him. Besides, how was he going to find her, search every world for his lost family members who may not even like him?, but he still wanted to see them.

He wanted to meet his mother, he wanted to hold his sister in his arms. After he got dressed he walked out of his house and headed for the islands.


	4. Chapter 4 :Freedom

Xemnas walked though the halls of the castle that never was, until he came to the grey area; the room where organization members would relax and lounge, a peaceful and quiet place.

But now it wasn't so quiet, the room was filled with the shouts of the other members, as they all fought each other. "silence!" xemnas yelled, the whole room went quiet as the loud chatters and screams faded away. To the left of the room was xaldin holding axel against the wall,

to the right was lexaeus who had marluxia caught in a hold.

"_perfect" _he thought. All the traitors had been assembled, now he just had to decide there punishments.

He walked his way to marluxia, who was screaming his head off at lexaeus.

"hello marluxia" xemnas said in a flat tone. "you have a lot to answer for"

"like what?!" he said.

"putting your fellow members at risk, using sora for your own personal gain." xemnas opened his fingers as he went down the list. "alright I get it" marluxia said, his voice filled with irritation.

"what are you going to do?" he continued "turn me into a dusk?"

"yes" xemnas said blandly, not a very original punishment, but still a punishment at least.

"take him away"

marluxia began screaming as lexaeus dragged him out of the room,

"you fools!" he shouted "he's just using us all! None of us are getting hearts! We are just tools!"

"you're nothing but rats! Running in a maze for his amusement!" his shouts slowly decreased in volume as he was dragged away.

"now to deal with you" xemnas said as he turned to meet axel, but to his surprise all he saw was xaldin knocked out on the floor, axel had escaped. xemnas snapped his fingers and then four dusks appeared behind him. "find him" he said "search everywhere" with that, the dusks disappeared and began their search for the fire haired rogue.

He turned to larxene, who had been standing there quietly with her arms crossed, that was most unlike her. Larxene was always loud and active, but now she was silent... odd.

"you look rather bored" xemnas said to larxene "i have a welcome back present for you"

"really? A present? For me?" she said with excitement.

"there is a prisoner down in the dungeons, her main duty is to collect hearts for us, but you may do whatever you wish with her when she is not needed"

"really? My own slave? I like the sound of that!" "can I discipline her if she misbehaves?"

"of course" xemnas said with a smile "just don't discipline her too much" he knew how cruel larxene could be, which was what was needed to keep the prisoner docile, the prisoner was to obey the organizations commands, and she was to be reminded of her place, she was a tool, and a tool she would stay. Until his kingdom hearts was complete and then he could truly, finally exist. Or at least that's what he wanted the 'others' to think.

* * *

"wake up! WAKE UP!" her peaceful rest was disturbed by a woman with long blonde hair and deep green eyes. _Just ignore her, she'll go away_. The prisoner thought, this only angered larxene though.

who did this slave think she was? "i said WAKE UP!" larxene brutally kicked the poor girl

and was rewarded with the sound of a pain filled scream.

"good, now that i've got your attention, get. up." she said with venom in her voice. The prisoner, not wanting to get kicked again, stood on her feet and stared the blonde woman. "come on, its time for you to do your job" she said. her job was to slay those weird black monster things they called heartless, she didn't know why she was being forced to do this, or what would be gained by slaying the odd black things, but she did more than just that. Sometimes this organization would take her to other places and lead her to something they called a 'keyhole' they would then force her to unlock it, whatever that meant. "you move too slow, pickup the pace!" she was pulled away from her thoughts when the blonde woman grabbed a fist full of her silver hair and began pulling, the silver haired girl screamed at the top of her voice, begging the blonde woman to stop, but she wouldn't listen. She just kept pulling. And the prisoner kept screaming in pure pain.

Her screams continued until she was pushed into a huge room with blue floors, the roof of the room was a huge skylight that gave a clear view of the endless night sky, she noticed that no stars or even a moon could be seen, which was kinda odd, seeing how this place never saw daylight, she thought there would be a lot more stars Or at least a moon in the sky. She always enjoyed looking at the moon,

it would have certainly gave her comfort in this horrible place. She was going to escape this stupid castle, she was going to run as far as her legs could carry her and not look back, but she knew trying to run now would be suicide, she just had to wait, be patient and wait for the right time.

"now, slay the heartless" the blond woman said as she snapped her fingers. four little black shadows came into the room, not attacking or even moving, just standing there, waiting for their lives to be taken away from them. She felt bad for them, she didn't want to hurt the little guys, they were kinda cute, she would rather take them as pets instead of pushing a huge house key through them, but she didn't have a choice. She summoned her Keyblade.

The keyblade was silver and ivory-colored. The shaft was thin and smooth with a fleur-de-lis-shaped spike at its tip. The teeth were comprised with a pair of uneven, silver wings framing a broken, bright red heart. The base of the blade was adorned by a simple, grey heart, and the handle was black. Two uneven wings decorated the Keyblade's guard, with the larger wing being on the same side of the weapon as the teeth. The Keychain had silver chain links and the token at the base of the chain resembled a miniature version of the Keyblade's teeth; a bright red heart surrounded by silver wings.

_(AN: its lost memory. Ventus' keyblade from birth by sleep)_

it was such a beautiful blade. She always loved holding it, it gave her a sense of security.

As long as she held it in her hands she felt safe, it was a shame, she really wanted to use it against an opponent who could fight back, instead of just swinging it at things that didn't even harm her.

"well?! Are you going to just stand there and look at it? Or are you going to use it already?!"

the blonde woman interrupted her thoughts again... which was annoying, she couldn't even think because these idiots kept interrupting the peaceful voices in her head.

"what if I don't want to slay these things?" she questioned. She had enough of this. Holding her keyblade close had given her the courage to stand up to this stupid cult of black robe wearing freaks, she wasn't going to take this anymore, even if this woman was going to attack, then she would have the chance to fight against a real enemy. A real danger, and maybe she could win, this blonde woman didn't look that strong.

The woman started to laugh, it started out as a small giggle but quickly turned into a fit of insane laughter.

"ooh that's cute" she said "you actually think you have a choice" she continued that... horrible laugh.

"i didn't want to do this but... who am I kidding, I TOTALLY WANNA DO THIS!" she said as she snapped her fingers which sent a jolt of electricity to the prisoner's body, causing her to scream in pure pain and agony, until she collapsed on the floor, gasping for breath. "i'm not going to ask again" she said "do as I say or i'll fry you!"

she was about to snap her fingers again until the prisoner got on her feet and moved toward the heartless.

"good girl" she said "now kill it"

She held her keyblade close to the monsters neck, ready to strike, the blonde in the black robe stood next to her, watching closely. The prisoner had an idea, maybe now was the perfect time to escape, nobody else was in the room, the door was open, and her captor was standing right next to her, all she had to do was swing in the other direction, then she would be able to hit her in the face, drop her to the ground and make a run for it. Maybe she could find help, this wasn't a very solid plan but it was a plan, it could work, at least she hoped it would.

She had to take a chance.

She prepared her swing and the keyblade made contact with the woman's face, dropping her to the floor.

The prisoner ran through the open door, down one of the halls, passing one of those black coated freaks along the way, Was it the one with rockstar hair or the eye patch?, who cares, the point was she was still running, not stopping at all, until she came to a dead end, only to find out that it wasn't a dead end; it was an elevator that was big enough to be a room. It must have been a big castle if it needed one of those. The elevator room... thingy reached the bottom floor and she was able to see the way out, "freedom at last!" she cried.

As she ran out of that stupid place she turned around to get a good look at it, it was a flying castle of darkness, kinda cliché. mysterious black coated bad guys, gigantic floating castle of darkness surrounded by a city of darkness, was she in some kinda video game or something?

She continued her endless running, passing a huge, black skyscraper, and continuing down a small, dark allay. She leaned against one of the walls to catch her breath and give her legs a little rest, finally, she was free, but one question kept buzzing in her head, where would she go from here?. She could obviously see that she was very far away from home, and nobody had come looking for her, but then again, who really would come looking for her? she was a loner, someone who wasn't very good with people, the only person she could think of that would actually notice she was missing was her mother, but her mother rarely cared about her.

_She probably though I ran away._

She stood on her feet and began walking, thinking she had put a good distance between her and the flying castle.

There wasn't much she could do now, maybe she could find someone who could help her, maybe if she just explained her situation very carefully, then it would be believable

_I was captured by a group of people wearing black cloaks, who forced me to kill these black little monsters for no apparent reason, they all have an X in their names and they live in a white floating castle of darkness._

_Yes, I know it sounds crazy but i'm telling the truth. Please don't send me to the nice man with the very big needle._

Yeah, if someone said the same thing to her she would think they were crazy too.

Maybe she could just say that she was lost and needed help finding her way home... wait, where was her home?

"there you are!" she jerked her head around and found one of those coat organization guys. This was the one with the blue hair, what was his name... saix! That was it. She summoned her keyblade, prepared to fight him.

He also summoned his weapon. I gigantic... hammer? It looked like a hammer, it was blue, and he held it backwards, entering his fighting stance.

She also entered her stance.

Holding her blade above her head, and stretching her left arm in front of her. In a taunting position

_**(it's the same way riku and vanitas hold there weapons)**_

to a normal swordsman, this fighting style would make their sword arm rather tired, but for her it felt natural.

It felt right to hold her keyblade this way, she didn't really question it, just followed her instincts, they got her this far, and they could get her farther.

She charged ahead, attacking first, she delivered a quick slash through his torso, leaving a good sized cut through his flesh, she smiled at this, it felt good to finally take her anger out on these jerks, she even had a little bit of the fabric from his cloak caught on the teeth of her keyblade. Saix quickly recovered from the attack. And begun to swing his claymore left and right, up and down, but she dodged rather easily, as big and intimidating as he looked, he couldn't land a single hit fast enough, she was just to quick, and his weapon must have been really heavy. She was ready to give him another slash, but her weapon collided with his.

"BEGONE!" he yelled as he threw his claymore at her, it hit her directly in her chest, and she fell on the ground.

Saix stood above her with his claymore back in his hand, ready to strike her with all his might. He held his weapon up in the air. "no exit" he said. He was about to bring his claymore down on her, until she held her hand up, and shot a blast of dark energy at saix. He screamed as her dark blast hit one of his eyes, causing great pain and damaging his sight.

She was surprised, when could she do that? If she knew she could shoot... whatever that was, then she would have broke out of this place weeks ago. Saix remained there, covering his damaged eye with his hands

she quickly ran as far away from him as possible. Once the pain subsided, he would be pissed off.

She kept running until she heard a whistle, looking in the direction of the noise, she saw a portal, she decided to step through it, not knowing where it would take her, but knowing it would probably take her far away from here.

* * *

Leon was walking around radiant garden, on his way to one of the restoration sites. Him and the others had achieved so much in these few short days. The town was halfway complete and if things stayed on schedule then radiant garden would soon reclaim its title, the city of light. The only things left on the construction list was to restore the bailey, which was destroyed when maleficent sent an army of heartless against the city,

and the destruction of villain's vale, maleficence's castle.

"leon!" leon turned around to see yuffie running up to him, the look of panic clear on her face.

"yuffie, what's wrong?" he asked, it was odd to see her this way, whatever was going on must have been important.

"some girl just fell from the sky!"

"what?"

"come on, this way!" yuffie ran ahead of leon and brought him to merlin's house, where cid, tiffa, and aerith were trying to wake an unconscious girl.

Leon took a closer look at her, and noticed her long silver hair, her very slender figure. Clutched firmly in her hands was what looked to be a Keyblade.

"get her to the castle and let me know when she wakes up" leon said. Cid then picked the girl up and held her over his shoulder, walking towards the castle of radiant garden.

* * *

_**AN: god it took me forever to get this chapter done. i wanted to get our silver haired keyblade wielder out of the castle as soon as possible.**_


	5. Chapter 5 :the adventure begins

Riku had walked through the streets of his home village on the way to the docks.

It was very early in the morning so nobody was actually awake yet.

He would do this often, at first it was for exercise, then it became a good way for him to clear his head when certain things troubled him. He thought about many things, his family, his friends,

his deep desire to see other worlds and his reasons for trying to escape this one.

He didn't really hate it here, it just wasn't a place he wanted to be in. It was too quite here, barely anything interesting would happen.

Riku felt trapped in this tiny place, for the heart seeking freedom, this was a prison, surrounded by water. The only thing there was to do, (besides school) was to just hang around on the island that was a small boat ride away from the mainland.

When he was a child, he loved that place. but now he was bigger, it was time for him to move on.

He sighed "this world is just..."

"too small?"

Sora finished his sentence for him.

"sora? What are you doing up so early?"

"i couldn't sleep" he said. That was very unlike sora, he was always the laziest bum on the island,

so hearing the words 'I can't sleep' coming from sora was not something riku was use to hearing

"so what are ya thinking about?" sora asked.

"nothing, just walking" "what are you thinking about?" riku asked back.

"well.. no, nevermind"

"what?"

"nothing, if I told you, you'd think I was silly"

"i already think your silly"

"well.. I had this dream last night"

"about what?"

"about this... girl"

"really" riku said. "that means its time, sora" he laughed a little bit.

"no not that kinda dream, riku" "and before you ask, It wasn't about kairi"

"then who was it about?"

"some girl I never met before" "you should have seen her riku, she had long silver hair and these beautiful red eyes" "...and she looked so sad... like someone had just died right in front of her"

"did she say anything to you?"

"no... she just looked at me with those eyes... those big sad eyes... it's like she was looking right into my soul"

"maybe she's important"

"what do you mean?" sora asked,

"they say that when a person you've never met before appears in your dreams, it means their about to play an important role in your life."

"really?"

"yeah. You might meet them now, you might meet them later, or you might not even meet them at all,

but their actions can change the way you see the world around you, for better or for worst."

"really? I dunno riku you say some weird stuff sometimes."

sora said as the two best friends stood on the docks, watching the sun rise.

"oh, one more thing I forgot to mention about her, she looks a lot like you, riku"

"really? Then she must be sexy" "if she's real of course"

"it was like, if you had a sister, that's what she would look like"

riku was surprised to hear sora describe this dream girl that way, what if this girl was real, did she look so much like him that the two would have been seen as siblings?. Maybe... no It couldn't be.

Riku and sora had been siting on the docks for sometime, just making idle conversations, half of them would be forgotten once the conversation was interrupted by kairi.

"hey guys"

"hey kairi" they both said to her as she joined them on the docks.

"so when is that portal coming" kairi said to sora.

"soon"

"oh sora, here this is for you" she handed him a note book that had the title "The Keyblade Chronicles" written in red marker on the front cover.

"thanks kairi, but what is it?"

"its a book" "well its my book. I've decided to become an author and the first book i'm going to publish is going to be about your journeys" she said proudly, kairi had always loved books and now she was going to make them, she could see it now, siting in a popular book store while a bunch of people line up just to see you write your name. She would love that, kairi always told the best campfire story's, so maybe she could write the best books too, maybe not the best books, but they would probably be pretty entertaining for some people, right?.

"promise me you'll read it while your traveling, then when you get to the ending, I want you to come right back here and tell me if you liked it"

"okay kairi, I promise" sora said as he put the small book into one of his pockets.

"what, I don't get one?" riku said.

"if you want one then you have to wait until it gets published, then you can buy a copy"

"are we in it?" sora said to her.

"none of you are in it, the characters are just based off you guys"

"so im the hero?" sora said.

"so im the bad guy who steals the princess's heart?" riku said.

"i just told you, your not in it"

"but im the hero, right?"

kairi sighed "why don't you read it and find out?"

"okay I will" in truth, he preferred books that had pictures, but at least this would give him something to do if he got bored.

The portal to yen-sid's tower soon appeared before them, sora stared at it closely, it looked a lot like the corridors of darkness that organization XII would use, only instead of being all black, this one was all white.

* * *

Sora breathed deeply and took a step through the portal, once he fully passed through, he found himself inside yen-sid's study, with the old wizard siting I his chair.

"come sora, we have much to discuss" yen-sid said

"whats up?"

"something has been tampering with the worlds"

"tampering?"

"yes, do you remember your first journey? The one where you locked the keyholes of the worlds, and prevented the heartless from entering them?"

"yeah, why?"

"someone or something has sabotaged your work, the worlds have been unlocked and the heartless are free to roam them ass much as they like."

"what?!" sora couldn't believe what he was hearing. Someone was just going around unlocking all the worlds he had worked so hard to save, who was doing this?

"but wait, you need a keyblade to lock and unlock keyholes"

"correct. and as you know, keyblades have minds of their own, they chose when to show themselves and they also chose who they belong to. This trouble maker may not know what they are doing, if fact I suspect this new wielded is being manipulated by a greater evil.

"maleficent?" that seemed to make sense to sora, She did say she would have her revenge.

"perhaps" "your mission is to journey into these worlds and lock them again, and if possible, find this trouble maker and put a stop to them."

"should be simple, right?"

"before you set out on your quest, visit radiant garden, there is something important that requires your attention."

"okay, wheres the gummi ship?"

"you will not be needing it" yen-sid said, he placed an odd blue star shaped crystal on the table, one of the points was missing.

"what is this?" sora asked.

"it is a star shard, it is one of the many ways to travel between worlds. simply hold it into the air and picture the world you wish to visit inside your mind."

"got it"

"good luck, boy"

sora held the star shard in the air and in a flash of light he found himself standing in the marketplace of radiant garden.

* * *

_**AN: i wanted to make this chapter a lot longer but i didn't find a good way to switch between the characters. **_

_**let me know your thoughts and if theirs anyway you think this story can improve. let me know**_

_**i'm new at writing storys so i need all the help i can get.**_


	6. Chapter 6 :Radiant Garden

She awakened in some odd location, laying on a bed. her head was spinning and her vision was very blurry.

She saw a shadowy figure in the darkness of the small room.

"are you okay?" the figure said, the voice was high in pitch, must have been a woman.

"can you speak?" she said again, the woman walked a little closer and now it was easier to look at her.

She was wearing dark clothing and a headband, she also had short black hair.

"who are you?"

"who am I? You been living under a rock or something? I'm the great ninja, yuffie!" she said with pride. She seemed kinda offended that this one person didn't know who she was, but she didn't look angry, she was wearing a very huge smile.

"so you got a name?" yuffie said to the silver haired girl who was now siting comfortably on the bed.

"Ria, my name is ria"

"well, nice to meet you ria" It felt nice to hear someone actually call her by her real name, it was better than being called prisoner, that was for sure.

"where am I?" Ria said.

"you're in radiant garden." yuffie said. Radiant garden, the name sounded familiar, she remembered one of those black coated freaks talking about it. What if this was some kinda extra base used by those weirdos.

Actually, now that she was able to get a better view of the room she was in, she could see that she was wrong.

The room had dark red walls and a nice blue carpet, the room had a few painting and even some furniture, she was sitting on a white bed with red pillows and a large, very comfy blue blanket.

To the left of the room was a wardrobe with a full body mirror next to it and a door that led to a bathroom. To the right was a coffee table surrounded by three small velvet armchairs and one velvet loveseat. Red and blue seemed to be the theme of the room.

Leaning on the side of the bed was lost memory, Ria's keyblade.

"so, how did I get here?" ria asked.

"you fell from the sky" yuffie said casually.

"i... fell from the sky?"

"yeah, care to tell use how that happened?" her attention was turned to a man in a black leather jacket with long brown hair.

"i'm leon by the way, nice to meet you"

Ria had explained her story to them, about the flying castle, those weird heartless things, and the coated freaks. She expected leon and yuffie to give her odd looks and call her crazy, but instead they seemed to understand her situation, leon even knew about her keyblade and those coat guys.

"organization XIII" leon said. "those are the ones who kidnapped you"

"organization XIII?" _gee, that had to be the most original name for a group that only had thirteenth __members__. _Ria thought. To be honest, she thought they would have a more threatening name.

"so... who are they exactly?"

"Nobodys" leon said coldly.

That seemed like an odd thing to call them, she wouldn't call a bunch of black cloaked guys (who held giant weapons and controlled lightning) nobodys.

A nobody was a title given to someone who went unnoticed, someone who didn't really have friends, somebody who could blend into a crowd perfectly and never be seen as different, almost as if they didn't even exist. She knew that feeling.

"so... they wanted you to kill heartless?" leon said, pulling her away from her thoughts, ria noticed that yuffie had left the room.

"yes, but if the heartless are evil then does that mean the organization are good guys?" ria asked.

"no, they just want hearts" leon said

"hearts?"

"how can I explain it?" he said scratching his head, trying to find the words.

"you see, a heart is made out of two things, light and darkness." "when a heart is consumed by darkness, a heartless is created"

"the heartless travel from world to world, slaughtering innocent people, and stealing their hearts, in order to create more heartless." leon said

"so... those things used to be normal people?" ria said. Had she been killing innocent people who just wanted to be free from some horrible darkness?.

"no... the heartless are just the blackened heart of the person. I don't know what happens to the body"

"so... killing them is a good thing?" she was still confused.

"well yes, you have a keyblade, and the heartless have great fear of the keyblade because it's the only weapon that can release the hearts trapped inside the heartless."

"so what happens when the heart is released?"

"i... don't know" leon said, he seemed to be having a hard time explaining everything, it was like he was reading everything out of some book.

"but I do have a friend who knows more about hearts then me, maybe he can tell you?"

"i'm back!" yuffie said as she returned to the room with a steaming bowl of soup.

that delicious smell invaded Ria's nostrils, causing her mouth to water and her stomach to growl fiercely.

Yuffie saw the reaction ria made and gave a little giggle "i though you might be hungry, so I had aerith make you some soup."

yuffie handed the bowl over to ria along with a fork and a spoon, ria just put the spoon and fork on the nightstand and sipped the soup from the bowl instead. She finished rather quickly, she must have been really hungry.

"can I have seconds?" she said as she handed the bowl back to yuffie.

"sure, i'll be right back."

* * *

sora was walking along the streets of radiant garden with with cloud strife. It was good to be back here. the marketplace was booming with business, huge amounts of people had lined up at the many shops, all of them waiting to buy their goods. you could also hear the merchants as they advertised their businesses.

"**weapons for sale!, axes, maces, swords and daggers, come and see my fine selection!"**

"**accessory right here, I got rings that can increase fire resistance, how about a bracelet that makes you immuned to lightning?!"**

"**potions!, ethers and elixirs!, the perfect pick-me-up!"**

it really did feel like a proper town, sora was glad to see it like this.

"so hows the restoration going?" sora said to cloud.

"pretty good, I guess. The only thing left is to pick a new leader for the city"

"a leader?"

"yeah, half of the town want me to be leader, but another half want leon instead" cloud said in his usual low voice.

"who do you think would make a better leader, cloud?" sora asked

"leon, he's the one who got everybody to build this place back up, I only protect the workers from the heartless" "besides, I don't lead... not anymore" sora looked down at his feet, he liked cloud but sometimes he could just be... depressing.

* * *

Ria had just finished her third bowl of soup, finally feeling full. She laid there on that comfy bed for a few seconds, maybe a little nap would do her some good too.

_Okay Ria, time to stop being lazy._ She thought to herself. She got up and decided to check out the bathroom, it had been a long time since she bathed and judging by the dirt on her body, she would need a good soak. She stopped in front of the mirror and looked at her reflection, she actually forgot what kind of clothes she was wearing. just a simple white tee shirt and a pair of worn old jeans, she thought that now was the time for a new outfit, maybe this town had a shopping center, but she didn't have any munny. (←this is the kingdom hearts version of money, so don't say I misspelled it)

that kinda sucked, these old clothes were all dirty and she didn't really feel like wearing them anymore. but nothing she could do about it, maybe she could get a job and earn some munny.

She entered the bathroom, it had the basics. toilet, sink, bathtub, it even had a few bottles of shampoo.

She turned the knob and the hot water began to pour into the tub, she made sure it was at the right temperature, not hot enough to burn your skin off, but hot enough to be enjoyable.

She also put a little bit of body wash into the water, just to make it smell nice.

Ria began removing her clothes and submerged herself into the bathtub.

Her whole body was in the nice hot water, the only part of her above the water was the top of her head.

She breathed through her nose, since her mouth was underwater. And began to relax as the soothing bath washed away her cares.

* * *

Sora walked through the castle, finally finding the dinning hall, there he saw aerith, tifa, leon and cid, siting down and looking at a few blueprints at the table.

"hey guys" sora waved to his friends and took a seat.

"we missed you" aerith said.

"so whats up?" sora said

"we have a visitor, a keyblade wielder, like you" leon spoke

"another keyblade wielder?" sora sounded interested, could this be the keyblade wielder yen-sid had been talking about? The one who was unlocking the worlds?

"where is he?!" sora shouted, standing up and slamming his hands on the table.

"calm down sora, everything's okay" leon said, reacting to sora's sudden behavior.

Sora took a deep breath and explaned to leon what yen-sid told him.

"unlocking the worlds?" leon questioned. "but why?, why would someone want to do that?"

"i don't know" sora said "but what I do know is that the only way to unlock a world is with a keyblade"

"ease up there, kid" cid said "im havin trouble following ya"

sora growled "i said don't call me kid" "the only person I know, who can gain from this is maleficent."

"what about organization XIII?" yuffie said.

"all of the organization are dead." sora said, recalling all the pain they put him through.

"anyway, I need to find that keyblade wielder"

"well your in luck, some little girl fell from the sky yesterday, and she had a keyblade" cid said

"but I don't think this is the person your lookin for"

"Ria wouldn't hurt a fly" yuffie said

"she's here?" sora questioned. "well maybe a should talk to her"

"wait sora" aerith grabbed sora's wrist as he was walking out the door. "she's in the shower"

"oh, well i'll wait then" sora said retaking his seat. Now he was kinda embarrassed since he just caused a gigantic scene and probably made himself look like a jerk in front of everyone

* * *

Ria left the bathroom, feeling fine and refreshed. She had a bathrobe covering her body and she held her old clothes in her hands. It felt nice, getting all cleaned up. She just wished she had some nicer clothes to wear.

Her attention was turned to a bright red and green box with a blue bow wrapped around it.

The box was just sitting there on the bed, it had a small note attached to it

_don't be sad and don't be blue, to cheer you up, we bring a gift._

_-from us to you._

She opened the gift and her eyes widened, inside the box was an outfit that was just her size.

She tried it on and looked in the mirror.

Her outfit was a black turtleneck sweater with black leggings, knee high leather boots, and a short red skirt with a gold trim, there were also two fingerless gloves with strong leather sewn into them, the gloves reached all the way to her elbows in length, so it was more appropriate to call them gauntlets.

Hanging from the sleeve was a cardboard tag.

**Three Good Fairies clothing company**

**-A Proud Part of The When You Wish Upon A Star Corporation.**

Ria smiled. What a nice gift.


	7. Chapter 7 :A new friend

Sora had been sitting in the dinning hall of the castle for some time.

Waiting for the keyblade wielder to get out of the shower.

He kept himself busy by reading the book kairi had given to him.

He was liking her story so far. It was fairly similar to his first journey, but not an exact novelization of it. The hero of the book was a keyblade wielder by the name of Vincent, who wielded both the keyblade and the powers of darkness, the book described him as loyal, Protective, and serious at most times but as the character developed, he seemed more lighthearted, sarcastic and funny.

(so in a way, this was the personality of sora and riku combined)

the other character was Selena, a princess of heart that was being guarded by Vincent.

(This character seemed to be based off of kairi)

sora really was liking the story. The interactions between the two characters was well done.

They first start out hating each other but as the story goes on they become good friends, and grow to depend on each other. It was kinda like the way sora and donald used to act.

He was missing those guys. Sora would have to pop in and say hi to them later.

He put the book in his pocket for now, He could read later. He had to speak to this keyblade wielder and find out what was going on. He wouldn't jump to conclusions until he heard the whole story.

Aerith directed him to the room the girl was staying in which was all the way on the third floor.

"what happened to those lift things?" sora asked. There used to be tons of those things when sora first came here, so where did they all go?

"their all damaged. Cid is getting them fixed" aerith said.

They soon came to the third floor of the castle, After walking an ungodly amount of stairs.

Aerith pointed sora to the room and went back downstairs, leaving sora to himself.

He stood in front of the door and breathed deeply. There was no telling what would happen once that door opened, the girl in the room could attack him on sight, It could be a trap. Or nothing could happen at all. He took a chance and pressed his knuckles on the door three times.

"come in" said the girl on the other side of the door. Sora summoned his keyblade into his hand,

just in case.

He opened the door slowly. Prepared to fight, if it lead to that.

* * *

Ria's eyes widened in shock, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was him, the boy from her dream, the one that was sitting on the island.

* * *

Sora couldn't believe it. It was her, the dream girl. She looked exactly the same.

Same long silver hair, same beautiful red eyes, same pale skin. The only thing different about her was her outfit, it was a nice outfit, all the black made her silver hair much more noticeable.

Riku's words echoed in sora's head _**"she cou**__**l**__**d be your greatest ally or your worse enemy"**_

right. Sora had to be careful.

* * *

Ria noticed the weapon the boy held in his hand. A Keyblade?. It certanly looked like it.

It looked kinda bland when compared to her keyblade. Maybe that was the point? Maybe it was supposed to look more realistic?.

She felt an odd sense of fear course through her. What if he was going to hurt her, what if he worked for the black coated freaks, organization XIII. She wouldn't go down without a fight.

She turned her head to her right and saw her keyblade, lost memory. leaning against the bedpost. The boy noticed it too. His eyebrows jumped up in shock and his mouth hanged wide open, she kinda liked that surprised look on his face...wait, if he knew who she was then why would he be so surprised to see that she had a keyblade. Maybe he didn't know?

She held her hand out to the weapon and it disappeared and reappeared in her hands.

She didn't go into her fighting stance, that might provoke him. She just held the blade tightly in her hand. It always made her feel safe. She wasn't scared, She could take him!.

"you do have a keyblade" he said in a shocked voice.

"i do. And if you're going to take me back to those black coat weirdos. you'll have to knock me out first!"

"knock you out? I don't wanna fight you" he said in a somewhat hurt tone.

"wait... you're not one of those black robe guys?"

"black robe guys?" he had a confused look on his face. So he didn't know who she was... good.

But she still wasn't letting her guard down.

* * *

Sora comprehend her words carefully. Black robe guys... keyblade... the Organization!.

"organization XIII?" sora said

he noticed how she tensed up when he said their name.

"i'm not a part of the organization and I don't wanna hurt you. I just want to talk" sora dispelled his keyblade and she seemed to relax a little.

"okay..." she said.

"are you the one unlocking the worlds?" sora said

"unlocking the worlds?, What worlds?"

"the worlds. Somebody has been traveling from world to world, unlocking the keyholes." she only seemed confused by his words. "you don't know about other worlds?"

sora sat down on one of the velvet chairs and begun explaining.

* * *

"so... there are more than one world?" Ria asked after the boy had stopped explaining.

"yeah there are a bunch of different worlds. And each world has a keyhole. A direct link to the world's heart" "if darkness enters the heart of a world, it will be corrupted and destroy itself"

"as a keyblade wielder. It's my job to protect and defend the worlds, but some people use the keyblade for other things" he continued

Ria had heard story's of other worlds but she didn't really believe them, she always thought they were just made up fairy tales to help kids fall asleep at night.

"so... how do you know about the organization?" he said

"well it's a long story"

"i got time" he said

she breathed deeply and began to explain.

Sora was shocked by her story. The organization capturing her and forcing her to collect hearts for them, forcing her to unlock the worlds. He felt sorry for her.

"if you don't mind me asking, when was this?"

"i don't really remember, I lost track of the days a long time ago. I think... half a year?"

she really had lost track of how long she lived in that horrible place. She was just glad to be out of there.

"that doesn't make sense" sora said "the organization are dead they've been dead"

"they looked very much alive to me"

this didn't make sense. Her story and sora's story didn't add up. If the organization are dead then why was she here? How could she be forced into doing those things if there was nobody to force her to do them?

"well we better see what master yen-sid say's about this"

"we?" she questioned.

Sora only nodded.

"i'm Sora, by the way."

"i'm Ria" she said as she shook his hand.

her hands felt so soft and small compared to his, he never held a girl's hand before.

"Ria, that's a pretty name" sora said to her.

"really? Thank you" Ria said to him, no-one had ever called her pretty before.

Their little moment was interrupted when they heard an explosion and the sounds of screaming people coming from outside the window.

"what was that?" sora said as he looked out the widow. He glared hard at the marketplace below him.

"Nobodys!" he said as he dashed out of the room. Ria quickly followed, not even stopping to see what was going on.

* * *

The marketplace was filled with Nobodys that were trashing and destroying the many shops that surrounded the small area. People were running in multiple directions. And the only ones that were fighting back were leon, cloud and tifa.

Sora and ria summoned their weapons and got into their fighting stances.

Ria was confused, these...things didn't look like people. They looked more like walking white jumpsuits with blades for hands. Once the nobodys saw her they began to shake erratically. And charged...floated... right for her. _'Finally, things to kill!'_ she thought. She jumped high into the air and began slashing and slicing right through them with ease, she had to admit, she was having fun.

Sora was amazed by ria's display. She held her keyblade the same way riku did and even swung it the same way too. He saw how she hacked and slashed the duskes with great ease, she moved with grace as did the duskes and it looked more like dancing then actual fighting.

Sora had to focus. Now wasn't the time to look and stare, he had to get rid of these things. They all charged at him and he defended himself with a combination of physical and magical attacks.

Ria had easily cleared out ten of those white things in no time. her attention was drawn to one of the rooftops, standing tall and proud was one of those organization guys with a hood covering his head.

This angered ria, those freaks had come here just to capture her again, they were terrorizing the whole city just for her.

"Ria look out!" sora shouted from a distance.

Tuning her head, she saw a dusk run up to her and prepare to attack, it ran so fast that by the time she saw it, she had fallen onto the cold stone and felt a great pain coming from her cheek.

The nobody's blade hand...thing, had cut right through her flesh leaving a large gash on her face, she could see blood leaking from the cut, when she pressed her hand over it, she could feel how dangerously close it was to her right eye, another two inches and she could become half blind.

_Right. No more distractions!_ She focused on the enemy that had slashed her and instantly felt her rage grow, she was griping the hilt of her weapon tightly and even though their was a large gap between her and the dusk, she still took a swing.

She swung hard with two hands towards the ground, when the keyblade made contact with the floor, a huge wave of dark energy shot out of it and hit the nobody dead center.

Sora had seen Ria's use of the darkness and he not only felt concerned but afraid.

The veins in Ria's body were dark black, and her eye color changed from crimson to bright gold.

Black smoke began flowing out of her. Every swing she took with her keyblade made dark energy erupt from the ground and her weapon. The nobodys began to take their attenion away from sora and onto ria, They had her surrounded. Ria was floating in midair and a volley of dark spheres flew out of her keyblade, hitting all the surrounding nobodys, destroying them in one hit.

_**(AN: ria is using the dark volley shotlock from terra's side of birth by sleep.)**_

after all the nobodys were destroyed, ria had collapsed onto the ground, sora ran to her and looked at her face. Her black veins had vanished and her eyes returned to their crimson color,

the cut that was on her face was now completely healed, there was no sign to show that it was even there.

"hey, wake up. Ria, open your eyes" he said as he shook her. Trying his best to wake her, but it didn't work, she was unconscious.

"oopsy dasiy!" sora looked to see one of the organization members looking down at him from the rooftop. He recognized the voice. Xigbar.

"have you been a good boy, roxas?"

"the names sora!" it always irritated him, whenever they called him by the name of his Nobody,

sora didn't like being compared to roxas. Roxas had the right to be his own person, not just sora's nobody.

"oh, whatever" Xigbar said as he jumped of the roof and landed on the ground.

Sora held his keyblade close, ready to hit Xigbar right in the face. "didn't I kill you?!" sora said with a venomous tone.

"you can't kill what don't exist" "besides, i'm not here for you, kid" he said as he removed his hood.

"i'm here for her" he pointed at Ria, who was still unconscious.

"you see... the boss man doesn't need you anymore. Now that we got her, we can get all the hearts we want." "it's a simple plan, force that little brat to unlock the worlds. heartless come to the worlds to create more heartless, then we make her collect the hearts. kingdom hearts gets remade and we get to exist again."

Sora was getting more and more angry as Xigbar explained his plan. He knew the organization was cruel, but to kidnap and enslave an innocent person (just for the sake of convenience) was awful.

"now why don't you be a good boy and hand that little brat over?"

"or have you grown an attachment to her?. not gonna lie, she's an upgrade when compared to the red head. all she ever did was wine and complain. Sora this sora that, she quickly became annoying"

"tell you what, since you seem awfully concerned, i'll come back for her later. Be a good boy, now!" Xigbar said as he disappeared into the darkness.

Ria soon awakend only to blush harder then she ever did before. Sora was...holding her. She felt his hands wrap around her waist and neck. it was a small combination of awkward and sweet at the same time.

"s-sora... let go of me" sora looked at her and began to blush as hard as she was.

"s-sorry!" he quickly removed his hands from her and shoved them in his pockets. Looking away from her awkwardly. He helped her onto her feet and immediately shoved his hands back into his pockets.

"so...why'd I black out?" ria wasn't really used to awkward situations. It was one of those moments where you would search for the right thing to say.

"oh... well you kinda used the darkness and..." sora planted his hands firmly on her shoulders and looked at her hard in the face. "Ria, how did you do that?!"

"i don't know, I just...did it" Ria was blushing again. Sora seemed so concerned, almost afraid.

"promise me you won't use the darkness again!" he said

"why?" why was he so worried? She was fine... well she felt fine.

"just promise me you won't do it!, that power has... changed people" sora said

"okay, I won't use it. I promise!"

"good" sora relaxed a bit and removed his hands from her arms.

Sora looked around the marketplace to see the damage the nobodys had done.

A few shops were damaged and some of the pathways were destroyed, but nothing was majorly damaged. Leon and the others could rebuild.

"so you said something about a master?" Ria interrupted sora's thoughts and reminded him of his original plan.

"oh yeah, master yen-sid!" sora said.

Ria glanced at leon, who was standing a few feet away. leon nodded "Ria, go with him, he can help you."

she nodded and said goodbye to everyone.

"you ready to go?" sora said holding his hand out for her to take. she took his hand and in a flash of light, they were gone.


	8. Chapter 8 :off to find my friends: riku

Riku was sitting on the couch in his living room while kairi was pacing around his house nervously.

"what if he's in trouble? What if the heartless attacked him?" "what if he succumbed to the darkness?"

"relax kai, im sure he's fine" sora had only been gone for a day, and kairi was already worried.

"but what if? What if?..."

"kairi, this is sora we're talking about. he's okay" his words reassured her, but she was still worried.

Maleficent had promised her revenge, maybe this was a trick, a way for her to turn him into a heartless again.

"who's okay, riku?"

riku heard the voice of his father entering the house. He had told his father the story of both his and sora's journey, but he didn't believe him, he simply said "you're a little to old to be making up story's"

"sora's mother said he didn't come home last night. Do you two know where he is?"

riku and kairi knew they wouldn't get away with lying, riku's father was a tall and intimidating man who looked nothing like his son, the only way you would know if they were father and son was if they told you they were and even then, it was still hard to believe.

"dad, I-"

"let me guess. Sora set out on some magical quest to save the world from evil, right?"

riku put his head down in shame. Riku's father gave a small chuckle.

"i guess I have to do this" he said. Both riku and kairi looked at him questionably.

"come with me, i've got something to show both of you"

the two followed him down into the basement of riku's home. He had never been down here before. He didn't even know they had a basement. His father flicked a switch on the wall and the lights of the room turned on, a bunch of old portraits and display cases were placed against the walls of the room.

"what is this place?" kairi said.

"i assume you both know what Keyblades are?"

"our family comes from a long line of Keyblade wielders, it goes as far back as the first Keyblade war, ever since then, our family had sworn to use these powerful weapons to protect the worlds from danger." "however. I have abandoned my keyblade years ago, which is why I said I didn't believe your story, but I do believe it, I didn't want to force the Keyblade on you, like my father forced it on me"

"dad...was mom a keyblade wielder too?"

"yes, yes she was. We both trained under the same master. Our home world was destroyed by dark creatures, long ago. I don't know what happened to your mother, or your sister. But if their still out there"

"you have a sister, riku?" kairi said.

"i want to find them" he said to his father.

"i won't stop you, riku"

he smiled. If his sister and mother were out there then maybe he could find them.

"i'm going" he said. His father smiled at him. "be safe" he said.

"riku, if you see sora, give him this" kairi placed her lucky charm into his hands. she made it out of seashells she found on the beach when she was a little girl.

"i'll find sora too, I promise." he said to kairi.

Riku held his hand out and a portal of darkness opened, riku stepped through it and began his search

* * *

**AN: this chapter was going to be a lot longer. but i decided to cut it in half for now.**


	9. Chapter 9 :twilight town

Sora and Ria walked through twilight town, they had to board a train to get to Yen-sid's tower but first sora wanted to say hi to hayner and the others.

"wow this place is beautiful" Ria said as they walked through the marketplace.

"yeah, for some reason, it's always sunset here." no matter how many times sora ever came here, it would always be sunset, no matter how long he stayed, it never seemed to get dark here.

"maybe that's where the name comes from. twilight town, home of the eternal sunset" ria said.

The two walked around the town for awhile, looking for hayner's group, the usual spot was empty so they must have been somewhere else.

"i'm gonna look around for a while, okay?" ria said, she liked this place and wanted to explore a little more before heading to Yen-sid's tower.

"okay, I need to get some items anyway, meet me at the train station." sora said, the two parted ways. Sora headed for downtown, while ria headed for wherever the path was taking her. She came to a street light with signs on it, both pointing in opposite directions, one saying train station while the other saying sandlot. She decided to head to the sandlot.

Once she got there she saw a blonde boy knocked down on the pavement of the sandlot. near what looked to be a scoreboard was a chubby boy holding a camera close to his chest, and a large blonde guy in a white sleeveless jacket, who was shouting at the top of his lungs.

"give me that camera!" "no way, it's mine!"

Ria glared hard, a bully. She always hated seeing others get picked on, it just wasn't right to her, why couldn't this jerk pick on somebody his own size. Ria was about to summon her keyblade. But then she thought, why would she need a weapon to take on this jerk, he didn't look so tough.

A few hours ago, she fought creatures with blades for hands, and the worst thing that happened to her was a little cut on the face, which quickly healed.

She saw a foam toy bat on the ground and decided to take it, in case he was hostile, which he probably was. She also saw a tiny rock which she also decided to pickup to get his attention, of course.

"hey, you don't wanna do that, y'know!" she was stopped by a man in an orange sleeveless tee and sports pants, who was standing in front of her, blocking her path.

"seifer will mess you up, y'know. Your lucky he doesn't hit girls, y'know."

"get out of my way!" she said, who did this guy think he was?, just walking up to her telling her what to do.

"suicide" said a girl in a blue sleeveless jacket and capri pants, who was behind her.

"fuu's right, seifer will wipe the floor with you, y'know."

great, these guys must have been his followers. He must be the kinda person who hides behind them and makes them do all the work.

"I said... MOVE IT!" she yelled as she hit the big guy in the face with the foam weapon, instantly she sent him falling onto the ground, and she was about to hit fuu, until she backed off.

Nothing was stopping Ria now, she threw the rock she held in her hand at the man known as seifer, the rock hit him hard in his cheek staggering him long enough for the chubby kid to escape. Seifer noticed Ria standing there in a confident pose, and she could see the anger clean on his face.

"who do you think you are?!" he shouted.

"why don't you pick on someone who can fight back!" she said, getting into her fighting position.

"your asking for it" he said as he grabbed a similar foam weapon and went into his fighting stance.

His stance seemed very relaxed and calm, he held his weapon all the way out in front of him with one hand, and even started bobbing it back and forth, obviously a trick to provoke opponents. With just a look at his fighting stance, she was able to completely figure out his fighting strategy, he provokes his enemy into attacking head on and most of his hits will probably come from counter-attacks. He plays defensive.

"kneel loser!" he said as she began charging toward him, he jumped high into the air and began his aerial attack.

"isn't this romantic!" she blocked his attacks rather easily, and waited for the perfect time to strike.

The battle went on for a while and she noticed he was starting to get tired. She jumped high into the air and came down on him with a slash, she was like a little whirlwind, swinging this way and that way, swinging so fast that it was hard for pour seifer to keep up.

"BACK OFF!" she said as she delivered the final blow to his face.

He fell onto the ground, sighing in defeat. His two lackys immediately ran to defend him.

"seifer's... just not feelin so hot, y'know" "rematch!" said his little groupies.

"forget it guys, she's not worth it" seifer said as he stood up and began to leave the sandlot, his group followed him out.

"smile!" Ria turned her head to see the chubby kid snap a picture of her.

"hey what was that for?!" she said, ria didn't really like having her photo taken by surprise.

"for the memory, i'm pence by the way, this is my friend hayner"

"i'm ria"

"way to show that jerk who's boss" hayner said

"thanks, what was he fighting you guys for?"

"pence her, can't stop taking photos of everything" hayner said

"hey it wasn't my fault, you challenged seifer" pence said

"who is that seifer guy anyway?" Ria asked

"he's just a jerk, he likes to think he's the tough guy in this town, just cause he's won struggle champion three years in a row"

"struggle? Is that like a fighting tournament?" ria asked

"yeah, we're having another one soon, you should enter, it would be the first time we ever had a girl in the tournament."

"no thanks, I gotta go" ria said, she was reminded that she was supposed to meet with sora soon.

"oh, do you guys know where the train station is?" "yeah, up that ramp" they said pointing her into the right direction

"thanks" she said as she began walking.

* * *

At the very top of the building that overlooks the sandlot, xemnas stood, smiling.

The girl was making excellent progress, soon she would be ready.


	10. Chapter 10 :getting to know each other

Sora sat at the top of the clock tower in twilight town, eating sea-salt ice cream while watching the sunset. It was a very relaxing place, so peaceful and tranquil, he could understand why Roxas liked it so much.

"_**you know, me and axel used to do this all the time"**_

"_really?"_

"_**yeah, after we did our missions, we would always come here and eat ice cream,**_

_**he called it 'the icing on the cake'."**_

Sora smiled as he listened to Roxas' story's. After sora finished his ice cream, he notices words that were written on the stick 'Winner'.

"_**Sora, you got a winning stick!"**_

"_what did I win?"_

"_**another ice cream"**_

* * *

Ria soon found the train station, Sora was nowhere in sight, maybe she was early?. By looking at the setting sun, she could see that no time really passed. she decided to wait on one of the steps, if he wasn't here by nightfall then he must have ditched her.

"there you are!" came a voice walking up to her, the voice belonged to that jerk, seifer, and he had his two followers with him, Fuu and Rai, he probably wanted revenge for the beat down she gave him earlier.

"_i can't see you, you're invisible."_ she thought, she would just ignore him, he'd go away.

But he didn't, he stood right in front of her, like a mother would do to a child who was watching to much television.

"could you move? your blocking my view." she said calmly, trying to be nice.

"stand up" he said. Who did this guy think he was?, telling her what to do.

"i said stand up"he said again, she groaned with irritation and did as he said.

"listen to me, because i'm only gonna say this once"

"speak, if you have something to say that's worth listening..." she said.

She stood there waiting with baited breath for whatever stupid thing he had to say, if it was something perverted then she'd smack him, if it was something sexist then she'd kick him.

"will you marry me?!" he shouted as he kneeled before her and held her hand.

Ria gasped hard and her cheeks blushed bright red with surprise, was this moron actually saying that? the concept of having him as a husband made her stomach turn and twist in disgust.

"MARRY YOU?!" she cried "why on earth would you say such a thing?!"

"i've never met a girl that would stand against me, let alone beat me in a fight, there's no doubt in my mind, you're the woman of my dreams!"

"get from me, creep!" she said as she pulled her hand away from his. "i would never marry you! besides, I'm only sixteen!"

"you don't have to marry me then, but would you go out with me?"

"i... uhh, I have a boyfriend!" she said randomly, it was an obvious lie but what else was she going to say that would shut him up?.

"a boyfriend huh?" he said, instantly regaining his cool, he saw past her little lie.

"so tell me, What's his name? who's this boyfriend of yours?"

"i... umm"

"it's me!" Ria saw Sora walking towards her with... ice cream?.

"oh, it's you" seifer said, glaring at sora with eyes like a hawk.

Seifer gave a little chuckle. "come on guys, this punk isn't worth it" he said as he 'accidentally' bumped into Sora, causing the ice cream in his hands to stain his shirt. Before he could say anything, they were gone.

"what a bunch of jerks" he said, turning to Ria who had a smile on her face. "they didn't hurt you, did they?" he gave her one of the ice creams he held in his hand.

"no, i'm fine, thanks" she tasted the ice cream and was surprised by the flavor, it was salty but also really sweet. "what flavor is this?" "sea-salt" sea-salt? Salt on ice cream? That's kinda weird, but it still tasted good.

"so... what was all that about?" Sora said as they walked into the train station.

"that idiot wanted me to marry him, I was just about to hit him with my keyblade, but you showed up"

"oh yeah, I forgot, we're not supposed to let anyone know that we have keyblades, it's a secret to everybody" Sora came to the ticket booth and purchased two tickets for the train.

The train they were riding was all purple and cartoonish, it was decorated with glowing stars and comets, it even had a wizards hat at the top of it. **(AN: it has been a long time since I played kingdom hearts 2, so my memory of things is kinda off)**

they took their seats and the train's doors shut as it began to pull out of the station.

Ria just sat there looking out of her window, at the little town below the train.

"so, tell me about yourself" Ria said to Sora.

"me?" sora pointed at himself, she nodded.

"well, I live near an island, with my friends riku and kairi, we've known each other since we were children"

Sora began telling Ria about his friend riku, the things they used to do, and the games they used to play as children.

"me and riku used to play hero and villain, it's kinda like cops and robbers, one guy is the hero and the other is the villain, the villain captures the princess and the hero goes to save her, me and riku would always argue over who got to be the hero, i always forced him to be the villain, I don't think I ever let him be the hero, kairi was always the princess who got captured."

"who is this kairi?" ria asked.

"she's the best" he said. "she's got short red hair and she's really friendly." sora continued in his explanations of his friends, particularly kairi, he spoke about her with such fondness, it actually made Ria feel... jealous.

"she sounds great..." Ria said as she looked down at her feet and sighed, she didn't know why she felt this way, the more sora talked about kairi, the more frustrated Ria became, she really wished she didn't feel this way.

"yeah she's... hey, are you okay?" he said to her, she looked upset, did he say something wrong?

"you like her, don't you?"

"yeah, why?"

"not that kind of like, you're friends but you want to be more than friends, right?"

"well... kinda"

she sighed, maybe sora was being inconsiderate? Maybe he was talking to much and she wasn't talking enough?

"tell me about you" he said, Ria looked at him, was it just sora, or did her eyes get bigger.

"well... I don't really have many friends, I live alone with my mother" "well she's not really my mother, she's my guardian but i've been with her ever since I was a baby, we don't talk much, most of the time we just pass each other without saying anything, I go to school before she wakes up and when I come home she's knocked out on her bed, during the weekends I just sit in my room, she doesn't even check on me" "i don't even think she knows i've been gone"

"I... i'm sorry" sora said

"don't be, it's not your fault" sora felt bad, here he was, talking about how much fun he has with his friends and family and she didn't even have many friends or family, he really wished that he kept his mouth shut.

"hey sora?" "yeah?"

"i'm gonna take a little nap, okay?" Ria said. "wake me up when we get there?"

"sure" Sora said. She laid down on the seat, closed her eyes and began her nap, sora just watched her, he had to admit, she looked rather cute while she slept.


	11. Chapter 11 :destati

Sora had been looking out of the window of the train as it drove to its destination, the view wasn't anything to envy, but it was either this or he could be one of those creeps who watched girls while they sleep.

Ria was taking a nap on one of the seats of the train, sora had been watching her for just awhile but he soon took his eyes away from her when he realized how long he had gazed at her.

He chanced a second glance at her, she looked so peaceful while she slept, sora could kind of understand why people would watch each other sleep, she just looked so relaxed, so calm. He wondered what she was dreaming about.

* * *

**She felt like she was under water, but she could breath. She just kept sinking deeper, until her feet eventually touched what felt like solid ground, she opened her eyes only to she nothing but darkness, pitch black. She looked down at her feet and saw that she was indeed standing on something. It was a small white pillar that was incredibly narrow, if she took a step then she would fall off.**

"_**do you know what this is, my dear?"**_

**she heard a voice, it made no noise but it could still be heard, it was like a thought, but it wasn't her thought. The voice repeated itself.**

"_**do you know what this is, my dear? Do you know where you are?"**_

"_no, where am I?" _**Ria said. She spoke but her voice was silent, like she was just mouthing the words and not actually saying them.**

"_**this is your heart"**_

"_my heart?"_

"_**yes, rather small, isn't it?" "this is common for a heart that has not developed"**_

"_not developed?"_

"_**yes, your heart is new, it has not reached it's true potential. But it can, with my guidance"**_

"_what must I do?"_

**three weapons appeared around her. A sword, a staff, and a shield.**

"_**you're heart is the source of your power, so you must give it a form" "choose wisely"**_

**she looked at the three weapons around her. Her first choice, a sword.**

"_**the power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the form you choose?"**_

"_yes"_

**the dream sword disappeared from her hands in a flash of light.**

"_**your path is set. Now choose another form for your power."**_

**she took the shield and held it in her hands**

"_**the power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all"**_

**the shield, (like the sword) disappeared from her hands in a flash of light.**

"_**your form has been chosen and now your heart shall be reborn"**_

**the narrow pillar she was standing on had begun glowing vibrantly and began expanding in size, it was now incredibly huge, as she took a step, the white floor began to tear like fabric, and fly away into the darkness. And her hearts true form was relieved.**

**She was now standing on a red stained glass floor that had a portrait of her laying against the right side, keyblade in hand. The left side held smaller portraits of two people, one on the ****bottom and one at the top, the one on the bottom was sora, looking towards the portrait ria, and the portrait on top was one of a boy she had never seen before, one with silver hair just like her.**

"_**your heart is the source of your power, follow it and it will lead you to what you seek"**_

"_right, thanks"_

**a bright light began to shine in her eyes as her dive into her heart came to its end.**

* * *

Sora saw Ria begin to wake up, so he quickly turned his head towards the window so she wouldn't know he was watching her.

She stretched and gave out a little yawn.

"man, that was a nice cat nap" she said. She looked out the window and was surprised to see that the little town underneath the train tracks was no longer visible, whatever was under the tracks was hidden beneath a thick orange mist. The only things that she could see were the massive green mountains that the train passes on its way to the destination.

"we're here!" she heard sora exclaim, the train began to slowdown and stop at the end of it's voyage.

"this is it, lets go" sora said. The two exited through the door and onto what must have been the top of a mountain, in the distance ria could see a tower that looked rather large. "that's master yen-sid's tower, he's a powerful wizard, he'll know what to do" sora said as he began to walk towards the tower.

Ria looked back at the train, as soon as she had second thoughts, the train disappeared in a flash of light, making Ria giggle nervously "there goes our ride" she said nervously. It was a good thing she didn't leave anything in there, she did that with trains, always lost something when she rode those things.

She soon caught up with sora who was chancing glances at her every once and awhile.

"sora? Is something wrong?"

"uhh... well, you remember that thing I said to seifer, about me being your boyfriend?"

"yeah, why?"

"you didn't think I meant that, did you?"

she turned her eyes away from him and just tried to look ahead, she was about to say something but he spoke first.

"not... not that I don't think your pretty and I wouldn't want to date you I mean... well what I meant to say was that... I think your really..."

"i get it, its alright sora" she just walked ahead of him at a faster pace, almost as if she wanted to get as much distance between them as possible.

Sora facepalmed himself, '_idiot!' _his mind shouted at him. Riku was right, sora really was bad at talking to girls, why did he even bring up that topic?. Right now he was having thoughts of sowing his mouth shut, just to make sure he'd never say anything stupid again.

They had been walking up the spiral staircase of yen-sid's tower for awhile, Ria wasn't saying anything to sora.

They soon entered master yen-sid's study, Ria saw a rather old yet healthy looking man sitting on a large chair near the desk in the center of the room. The wizard opened his eyes and looked at the two keyblade wielders.

"so you are the one who has been unlocking the worlds" the wizard said as he stroked his incredibly long beard. Ria was about to explain but he interrupted her.

"no need to explain yourself, my dear. I know of what the organization has done to you. I am master yen-sid, welcome to my tower."

she bowed in respect of the elderly wizard.

"i know the organization is behind the unlocking of the worlds, and that they are all alive" yen-sid said.

"yeah, xigbar said you can't kill what dosen't exist" sora said.

"well the organization does not exist, it never has."

wait, how can they not exist?" Ria said.

"organization XIII are not people, they are Nobodys, people with strong willpower that have lost their hearts to darkness. When the heart is stolen by the heartless, the body learns to live without it, develops a personality of its own. the organization want to use the hearts of others, so that they may forge kingdom hearts."

"so what do we do now?" sora said.

"now you must journey to the other worlds, lock their keyholes, and stop organization XIII again."

"how can you stop something that doesn't truly exist?" ria asked.

"the organization were not always nobodys, they had hearts once."

"thats it!" sora said. Yen-sid and ria seemed surprised by sora. "if the organization had hearts once that also means their hearts are still here. If we find their heartless then the hearts might go back to their body's"

"and then the organization wouldn't need to use kingdom hearts to gain hearts" yen-sid said. "then you know what you must do."

"re-lock the worlds and slay the organization's heartless." sora said firmly. Yen-sid nodded at sora.

"yes, but before you set out on your mission, you must return my star shard"

"why?" sora said.

"the star shard takes you where you are needed not where you are wanted. It would take you a rather long time to travel to all the worlds if you used that." "certain worlds may be unlocked but are in no need of saving. The star shard is not a proper way to travel between worlds."

sora returned the star shard to yen-sid, who thanked him.

"but without that, how will we go to other worlds?" ria asked.

"the gummi ship!" sora said. Yen-sid nodded. He pointed to the corner of the room, and a portal of light opened. Sora looked inside the portal and he could see disney town, donald and goofy's world.

Sora nodded and walked through the portal, ria was about to follow but she was stopped.

"a word, my dear" the wizard said to her, she turned her head towards him and looked himin the eyes.

"i sense a powerful darkness inside you, child"

"is the darkness bad?" she asked.

"not quite, but it is not good either, many others who have used the darkness have suffered from it's corruption, however, the darkness I sense in you is different, most forces of darkness house a vile and terrible aura, however, yours is more peaceful, calm. You may be able to gain full control over your darkness, without taking the risk of damaging your heart."

"so the darkness isn't bad?"

"you must choose, will you accept and embrace the darkness inside you, or will you repel it away and seek redemption in the light, a choice, one you must make in due time." "now go, ff with you"

"thank you, master yen-sid" ria said. Yen-sid nodded and ria decided it was time to rejoin with sora. She stepped through the portal and left the mysterious tower.


	12. Chapter 12 :introductions & temptations

"ah, disney town!" pete said as he and maleficent walked through the alleyways of disney town.

"i wonder if da' good people will sleep soundly again knowin' that captain justice has retuned?" he said.

"silence, imbecile" maleficent said.

"remind me, why are we here again?"

"that's why" maleficent said as she pointed to one of the many booths the town had.

Pete could see that one of the booths had customers, a young boy with spiky hair and a girl with silver hair, one of them was easily recognized as sora, the runt that defeated pete and maleficent many times.

"so...?" pete said, clueless as usual.

"fool, do not focus on the boy, focus on his company, the girl."

pete was focusing as the girl was giggling at something stupid sora was doing.

"i sense power inside of her, a darkness waiting to be awakened." "sora puts his trust in her, and that trust shall be his undoing" maleficent said.

"okay, I got ya, so whats the plan?"pete said.

"listen closely"

* * *

"so these friends of yours work in that huge castle?!" Ria said, amazed by the size of the castle that overlooked disney town.

"yeah, donald is the court mage and goofy is captain of the knights." sora liked seeing ria's reaction to this new world.

This place was unlike anything she had ever seen. It was bright, colorful and it had a happy feeling to it, it was like being in an amusement park, there were even some booths that let you play games. One game involved using a machine to fire ice cream, another game was something called fruit-ball, which seemed cool, they even had a race track.

They soon came to the entryway of the castle gate, two men in armor were standing guard. when sora tried to pass them, they used their spears to block the gate.

"hey, let us through!" sora said.

"sorry, but the king and queen are not expecting visitors and the castle is closed to civilians during the million dreams festival." one of the guards said.

"but I know the king and the queen, I defended this place when the heartless tried to take over."

the two guards laughed at sora as he tried to explain. "sure you did" one of the guards said sarcastically "and I used magic to make my spear polish itself" the guards only laughed harder. "you caught us in a good mood son, why don't you go back to the festival before you get in trouble"

"now wait just a gawsh darn second!" someone yelled. A dog walking on two legs, dressed in a full set of armor. Sora recognized him as goofy.

"now listen here, both of you." the captain said to the guards. "sora here is my friend and he can come and go as much as he pleases, understand?"

"yes captian!" the two guards saluted and opened the gates for sora.

"its good to see ya, sora" goofy said.

"it's good to see you too, goofy"

"oh, and who's this?" goofy said as he noticed ria just standing there.

"this is ria" sora introduced

"nice to meet you, name's goofy, captain of the knights at your service." he said.

"im-"

"SORA!" ria heard a scream, when she looked in the direction of the scream she saw a white duck running towards sora, he was wearing a fancy mage hat. The duck, who must have been donald, had jumped into sora's arms and was hugging him.

"hey donald!" sora said. Ria was also introduced to him. As soon as sora's little reunion was over, the group set of for the kings throne. Donald and goofy were paying more attention to ria then they were to sora. They were both telling embarrassing story's about him. Ria could swear she saw him blush.

They soon came to a massive set of purple doors that looked big enough for a giant to use.

Donald knocked on the doors as hard as he could and instead of the large double doors opening, one normal sized door that was apart of the larger doors opened. They all walked inside the throne room, which was an incredibly huge and wide white corridor.

All the way at the end of the room was a golden chair that was defiantly the king's throne.

Ria was more than a little nervous, she and the others were just waltzing to a king's throne, unannounced.

Donald and Goofy might get away with it, due to their high political positions, and maybe even sora would be fine, but what about her? This king didn't know her, he might send her off to the dungeons, have her bound in the town square for all to see, maybe even execute her, have her head chopped off!.

Ria gulped while holding her neck, worry obviously painted on her face.

"Ria, is something wrong?" sora said looking at her from over his shoulder while donald and goofy were walking forward.

She shook her head and the group carried on walking. She'd be fine, sora was with her and so were his friends, they'd defend her if anything happened, And this wouldn't be the first time she escaped from a heavily guarded castle.

After walking through that huge corridor they soon came to the king's throne.

"good afternoon, your majesty" Sora, donald and goofy said at the same time.

Ria looked at the solid gold throne and instead of seeing a huge, tall and noble man of the people, she saw a tiny mouse. A mouse with two huge black ears and a very long, very thin black tail.

She was thinking about what she should do. should she bow or just say hi?

"Sora, good to see you again pal" the king got off of his throne and proceeded to shake sora's hand in cartoon like fashion, making sora's whole body shake up and down, it was so funny that ria let out a small giggle, which got the king's attention.

"oh, and who might you be?" the king said.

"i... i'm Ria, your majesty." she said as she bowed.

After introductions were over, sora and everyone else moved into the library, it was there ria met the queen minny, and her lady, daisy.

Sora had explained everything to the king, queen, donald and goofy. And judging the looks on their faces, ria could tell they were all concerned.

"unlock the worlds, but why would the organization want to do that?" the king said.

"well, the organization used the heartless to create kingdom hearts" donald recalled.

"right, and the only way a heartless could enter a world is if it's keyhole is open." sora said.

"well do we have some kinda plan?" donald asked.

"well, we do have one idea" sora explained "if the organization members are all Nobodys, that means they have heartless. And those heartless are holding their hearts. So if we release those hearts they'll go back to their body's.

"then they wouldn't be Nobodys no more!" goofy said.

"exactly" sora said,

Sora and the others were creating a game plan while Ria was looking through the library, she should have been helping them but she wasn't good at coming up with plans, and maybe she could find a book that described the heartless and nobodys in greater detail. Then she wouldn't be so confused whenever sora talked about them.

She found a book series that goes into great explanations of both the heartless and nobodys, but nothing about kingdom hearts, itself. The books had the author's name on the cover

_written by Jiminy cricket -a proud member of the when you wish upon a star corporation._

She read these books for what seemed like hours, but was actually just a few minutes. Sora had soon told Ria that they were going to get the gummi ship ready, she decided to join them.

Sora, Donald, Ria and Goofy passed through a beautiful courtyard with gigantic hedges bushes that were cut and sculpted into many different shapes and sizes. They soon came to a hedge castle that had actual opening doors. Donald and goofy gestured for ria and sora to go first.

They were walking down a long metallic spiral staircase that was dimly lit, bright enough to see where you were going, but not bright enough for you to see very far.

"so Ria, whats your world like?" goofy said.

"yeah, you never really talked about your world." Said sora.

Ria took a moment to answer their questions, she didn't really know how to describe her home.

"well... it's kinda... it's sorta" she struggled with the words.

"hey it's okay, we'll just go to your world." sora said. Donald and goofy stopped walking down the stairs and they kinda had odd expressions on their faces.

"guys, whats wrong?" sora said.

"well... we can't go with you, sora" said donald.

"yeah we got duties we gotta attend to" said goofy.

Sora was a little hurt that his friends couldn't come with him, but he understood.

They soon came to the launch station, and the first thing ria could see was a huge, yellow and red colored ship.

Two little chipmunks then came down from their control room. Chip and dale were their names. They were wearing yellow aprons with little blue pockets on them, the two of them looked fairly similar except chip's fur was dark chocolate colored and he had a black nose and one bucked tooth. dales fur was more of a milk chocolate color, he had a red nose, two bucked teeth, and scruffy hair on the top of his head.

They said the gummi ship would take awhile to be ready for launch, that would give ria enough time to explore this place. It was such a beautiful world, and she really wanted to get familier.

"hey, since we have to wait, do you think it would be okay if I looked around for a while?" ria asked to sora, donald and goofy.

"uh, sure, I guess" sora said.

Donald and goofy asked her if she wanted them to come with her, but she turned them down.

* * *

She walked through the streets of the colorful town once more, just taking in the scenery.

This place was so odd yet so amazing at the same time, she loved everything about this world, the bright and vibrant colors, the cheerful and carefree atmosphere, the cartoonish yet friendly people. it was so dramatically different from her home.

"help! Help! I need some help here!" she heard a call for help from one of the alleyways and began to run to see what was going on.

A rather large, black furred cat was being surrounded by heartless, he tried to fight them off but to no avail. Ria summoned her keyblade and charged to help.

Three shadows and two large bodys (the fat ones that you have to hit from behind) surrounded her. She got into her fighting stance, once again raising her keyblade high above her head with the blade's teeth facing down and outstretching her palm. (riku's kh1 fighting style).

The shadows lunged themselves toward ria, she was able to strike them before they could scratch her with their sharp claws, she hit one so hard that the poor thing flew into the large body of a rather fat heartless, ria tried to swing her keyblade at the large body, but her weapon would just bounce off of it, staggering her. The large body raised it's fist and attempted to punch her, only for her to roll out of the way of it's attack. She jumped over it and delivered a hard slash to it's back, the large heartless disappeared in a cloud of black smoke and a heart flew out from it, the other heartless were a good distance away. Ria pulled her hand back and felt the charge of a dark fireball building in her palm, she had almost forgot she could shoot darkness out of her hands. She pushed her hand forward and released the dark fire she created, the fireball traveled a great distance and eventually hit the heartless right in its head _(no wait, sora said not to use the darkness!)_ her mind reminded her.

She had to remember that no matter how powerful the darkness may be. Sora said not to use it, it changes people. she soon cut down most of the heartless, until they retreated by fading away into darkness, fleeing from the battle.

As soon as she was able to catch her breath, the large cat-man came up to her.

"thanks for savin' my life kid, I could have taken them by myself but thanks anyway." he said.

"sure... no problem" she said through her heavy breathing. Man, that fight really wore her out.

"pete, you bumbling moron" a woman soon approached and looked at the cat man who was known as pete. The woman looked turned herself toward ria and she was able to get a better look at the woman.

She had fair but green skin with shining, yellow eyes that were heavily shadowed with violet make-up and her lips were painted red. This dark woman's head was topped with a black-horned headdress and she was wearing a long, tattered black robe with a purple trim and maroon flare edges.

"and who might you be, my dear?" the woman asked.

"im-"

"well dis' is my good friend uh..." "whats your name?" pete said.

"i'm Ria."

"a pleasure to meet you ria, my name is maleficent" she introduced.

Ria wasn't exactly sure how to feel about maleficent, she just got this threatening vibe from her.

"i must thank you for assisting my associate by saving him from those vile creatures" maleficent said.

"you mean the heartless?" ria said.

"yes, the heartless. They travel from world to world, killing innocent people. They give us darkness users a horrible name." she said.

"you use darkness?" ria asked.

"why yes, I do. And I can sense the darkness in you child, a strong darkness." she continued "yet you hold yourself back, you push the darkness away. Why?"

"well, my friend... he said the darkness does things to people, changes them."

"lies." maleficent said "your friend has no idea what he is talking about. The darkness, much like the light, keeps balance, the darkness can be used just the same as the light" "the reason your friend sees the darkness as evil is because he is not strong enough to use it"

"well..." Ria was having second thoughts, maybe maleficent was right, maybe the reason sora looked down on the darkness was because he wasn't strong enough to control it, but ria wasn't having that hard of a time controlling it, and it was a powerful force. Maybe she should embrace the darkness.

"i can see you are conflicted, allow me to make the decision for you" she conjured an old wooden staff that was wrapped around a green orb, maleficent began channeling energy through it.

"wait I... I.." ria felt odd, it was as if the world around her was slowing, everything was getting blurry.

"relax... my dear, let the darkness care for you." maleficent said as she continued her ritual "sleep now, child"

"need... to sleep..." ria soon fell to the floor, giving in to the influence of the darkness, deep into a trance like sleep, she found herself unable to wake up.


	13. Chapter 13 :Blast away

_When she opened her eyes, she found herself floating in blackness. There was no sign of civilization for miles, not even any colors, just black, just darkness. It was like this whole realm was nothing but darkness, a black void. Ria closed her eyes, hoping this was some weird dream she would wake up from. She had this odd feeling inside her, a feeling of... comfort, safety, relaxation. She felt like she could lower her guard here, she just wanted to close her eyes and float forever._

"_**Turn back..."**_

_Ria opened her eyes to find the voice that disturbed her peaceful rest, the only thing she could see was a small ball of light that illuminated the black void that she felt so relaxed in._

"_**I said turn back..."**_

_the sphere said, It held the voice of a man._

"_**I was like you once. I followed the darkness in my heart, hoping it would give me answers, but I was wrong... oh so wrong!. I foolishly put my trust in the darkness and it corrupted me, my two best friends saw me as a different person, I became the very thing I swore to destroy. And now this is my fate, My heart is forced to sit here and watch as my body does horrible things to innocent people."**_

"_**you may think you're safe. but know this, The darkness is not your friend, it lies, it cheats, it manipulates and controls. Turn back... run away from this darkness, push it out of you, seek redemption in the light!... before you become a slave to the very power you control, before you become a puppet that dances for its master..."**_

_Ria tried to comprehend what the sphere of light was warning her about. She felt that amazingly relaxing feeling begin to leave her and the feelings of dread and fear began to replace it._

_The little ball of light began to glow brighter and ria could feel herself waking up from this odd experience._

"_**remember my words!... and if you ever find a woman named aqua... tell her i'm sorry..."**_

* * *

Ria awoke in an alleyway of disney town. She was a little groggy and lightheaded, it actually took a while for her to stand up. She had no idea how long she was sleeping, how did she even fall asleep here anyway?. True, she was a lazy person and she loved cat naps more than anyone else, but it wasn't like her to just knock out in the middle of some random location, and even if she would, she would make sure it was at least sanitary.

"what was I doing?" she said to herself, trying to remember why she even considered going in some filthy old alleyway. She tried as hard as she could but she just couldn't remember. she did see her keyblade laying on the cold pavement, was she in a fight? did it have something to do with the heartless?. All she did know was that it was late, when she looked above, she saw the full moon floating over the night sky, she couldn't explain it but she felt like it was watching her, she had always loved gazing at the moon, only now she didn't see it as a gigantic rock that floated around the world, she now saw it as a guardian, a protector. It was odd to assume that a moon could be considered as such, but it was just the way she saw it.

"Ria! Ria! Ria!"

she heard the voices of three familiar people calling for her. Looking out into the street, she saw sora, donald and goofy calling for her.

She stepped out of the alleyway to go after them only to look at the beautiful colored town on last time. The place was even more gorgeous at night, the street lamps illuminating the road, the windows glowing on the buildings, it was beautiful.

"Ria!" sora called out when he saw her, donald and goofy following him from behind.

"Ria, where were you?" sora asked with concern.

"i don't remember, one minute I was just walking around and the next minute I wake up in an alley." she said.

Sora had noticed that the long sleeves of her black knitted turtleneck were lifted, exposing the sink of her arms. Upon further inspection, sora could see scratch marks on her pale arms, they were to small to be done by human finger nails, they looked more like claw marks.

"where did you get these?" sora asked, even more concerned.

Ria seemed to be just as surprised as sora to find claw marks on her arms.

"Ria, were you in a fight?" sora asked.

"the heartless?" goofy asked.

"that's impossible, the cornerstone of light repeals all forces of darkness, the heartless can't get in here" donald said in a matter-of-fact fashion.

"i think a cat just decided that I'd make a good scratching post" Ria said, trying to make sense of the marks.

Donald, goofy and Ria just laughed it off and dismissed it, but it still bothered sora. as they walked ahead of him sora saw the red scratch marks on ria's arms begin to turn black and then the marks just disappeared leaving her skin as pale and flawless as before, was this some kind of fast healing? They were just scratches not cuts. he also noticed something different about Ria, the way she walked was more graceful, more catlike, and her footsteps were so quite that you could barely hear them. Sora couldn't put his finger on it, but something was wrong.

* * *

They soon returned to the hanger that held the gummi ship. It was fully prepared and ready for its passengers to board. Both ria and sora climbed in and began to take their leave of this world.

Donald, goofy, the king and his queen were there to see them go, waving goodbye and wishing good luck.

"you might wanna sit down" sora said to ria.

She took the seat of the second command, and let sora take the captains seat, it made sense, he was probably a better driver than her.

The engines of the gummi ship began to start, the engineers known as chip and dale gave salutes through two separate monitors, the gates in the hanger began to open and the countdown began

"3... 2... 1... blast off!" sora said while pointing towards the launch doors. Only instead of them blasting off, a gigantic red arrow that pointed down began to shine, a trap door opened under the gummi ship and gravity sent them falling. Ria and sora screamed as they fell out of the world, they soon exited disney town and began to blast away to another world.

* * *

Sora and ria were sitting in the chairs of the cockpit, sora was programing the ship's GPS to show the locations of worlds that sora had previously visited, he didn't know where he would start but he would check every world's keyhole if he had too.

Sora chanced a glance at ria who was leaning against the window, gazing out at the many stars, she looked so peaceful, so tranquil.

"_**she's right there, just say something" **_roxas said from inside sora's mind.

What would he even talk about? What conversation could he have with her that wouldn't end with awkward looks at each other?. His last conversations with her weren't the greatest, whether it was him accidentally rubbing his many friends and family in her face, or him making her feel insecure and awkward. Sora sighed, riku was right, he was bad at talking to girls. Maybe if he was a little more charismatic then he wouldn't have a problem talking to anyone.

"so... Ria, what world are you from?"

Ria turned her head away from the window of the cockpit to meet sora's eyes and answer his question.

"well, I don't really know the name of my world." she said, a little embarrassed that she didn't even bother to remember the name, let alone the location of her home.

"we can find out where your home is" sora said as he walked over to her.

"really? How?" ria asked. Sora put his hand to her back and he could feel strands of her long hair getting tangled in his fingers, he also saw faint blushing on her cheeks. her hair felt so soft, she must have took great care of it. Sora leaned close to her and whispered in her ear.

"sorry"

with a quick pull, he managed to get a tiny strand of her long silver hair to detach itself from her scalp, however the sudden pull on her hair did create pain, even if it was like a small pinch, she still said "ow"

with the tiny strand of her beautiful hair in his hand, Sora began to walk towards the newly added DNA tracker. The device allowed a person to locate their home world if a DNA sample was provided.

Sora put the strand in the tray on the device and it began displaying information on its monitor.

**DNA subject: Ria Sayomi.**

**Gender: Female.**

**Age: 16.**

**Date of birth: September 23. 1998.**

the machine kept telling the details of Ria Sayomi, she was amazed at how machine was able to define things about her, all this information came from a tiny strand of her hair. It told them everything about her, her IQ, her height, body weight, it even revealed a few of her traits, turns out she's ambidextrous. Sora didn't want to know this stuff as he felt like it was an invasion of her privacy, but it was helpful, her birthday was coming up in another two months. The machine kept displaying information.

**Eye color: ?.**

**Hair color: silver.**

**DNA relatives: ?.**

**Home World: ?. **

**Searching for last long term world Visit...**

the DNA machine had concluded that Ria's home world could not be found, so instead it planned a course for the last world ria had spent longer than one year in. the GPS concluded that it would take at least half a day just for them to get there. This was one of the few reasons sora disliked the gummi ship, since chip and dale uninstalled the warp drive. it was impossible to get anywhere fast, even the quickest routes to other worlds took hours, minutes if they were lucky. Sora had decided to go into the cargo hold of the gummi ship and bring out something that would pass the time.

He soon returned carrying a medium sized cardboard box of board games that he kept for long trips, so many memories lied inside this box, from donald getting frustrated at chess, to goofy just getting confused at some of the more advanced games. Sora had built quite the collection, everything from the casual candy land to the infamously nerdy dungeons and dragons (which was one of sora and riku's guilty pleasures)

he also took great care of these games, to this day not one game piece or pair of dice was missing from any of them, everything was kept in its place.

"whatcha got there, sora?" ria asked, seeing the box.

"its my board games that me and the others would play when we took long trips, its going to take a long time before we even get close to your world, so I thought this would be a good way for us to pass the time."

he held the box full of games out to her. "go on, pick any game you want." he said.

Ria looked through the box of board games and picked one that she had fond memories and skill of playing.

"whoa, I think this one is a little advanced for you" sora said after ria had chose none other than, (you guessed it) dungeons and dragons.

"are you kidding?, I know this game like the back of my hand" ria said.

Sora was kind of intrigued, he never met a girl who liked, or even knew what D&amp;D was.

"i don't know, maybe we should play something different" he said.

"chicken" ria said.

"i am not chicken!" sora defended.

Ria just made clucking noises in a successful attempt to provoke sora.

"i said i'm not chicken!" he shouted

"prove it, chicken boy" ria said. Tauntingly

"_**yeah, prove it, chicken boy"**_

"_shut up, roxas!"_

"okay... you're on." sora said, accepting her challenge. "but I call dungeon master" he added.

The two began opening the box and setting up the game.

Sora gave her the rule book, just to be sure she knew how to play, but she just swatted it out of his hands, claiming that rule books were made for morons.

And soon the game began.


	14. Chapter 14 :pretty girl, ugly home

Riku sat on the well in the 2nd district of traverse town, it was the middle of the night and riku had been overwhelmed by the quest he had chosen to undertake. it sounded easy on paper, travel through the worlds in search of your missing mother and sister. But it was a lot more harder than it sounded, riku never had a clue where his home world was or even if it still existed, he had no idea what his mother or sister looked like, though he did think they would look similar to him, as his father had always said riku looked more like his mother. But another worry that crossed riku's mind was what would happen once he found them, what would he say?, how would they react?, and did they even want him in their lives?.

Riku sighed. Where was even supposed to start looking? There were so many worlds with so many people, it would take riku months if not years to find them.

"there are so many worlds to search, and I have so many questions to ask" riku said. Looking up at the stars

"the answers are closer than you think, boy."

riku looked ahead of him, only to see a familiar figure hiding in the shadows.

It was Ansem (the seeker of darkness) now know as Xehanort's heartless. He stepped out of the shadows and greeted the young keyblade wielder. Riku (thinking this was an attack) had summoned his keyblade and entered his fighting pose. The heartless of xehanort only chuckled.

"relax yourself, boy."

riku didn't let his guard down. He knew Xehanort's heartless couldn't be trusted, everything that had happened to riku was a constant reminder of that fact. This heartless had almost destroyed his life, he forced riku to accept the darkness, he used his anger and jealousy as a weapon and made him attack and attempt to kill his best friend. Riku still hadn't forgiven himself for that.

The heartless of Xehanort saw that this was going nowhere and instead decided to vanish in a cloud of black smoke.

"that's right, hide coward!" riku said as his keyblade had dispelled.

After some thinking, riku decided that now wasn't really a good time to start his search, he was tired and it was getting late. After checking his pockets, he saw that he had more than enough munny to get himself a good hotel room for the night. That's what he'd do, he would rest for awhile, regain his strength and start his search first thing in the morning.

After a few minutes of searching, he soon found a rather decent hotel and checked in at the front desk, the manager handed him his room key and directed him to where he'd be sleeping for the night.

His room had a green theme to it. green walls, green sheets and blankets, wooden floor that had a small green carpet in the center of the room. The room also had the basics, cable television, phone, lights, bathroom.

Riku didn't really prefer the color of green, but he was only staying for the night, so he wasn't complaining.

After getting himself situated, he went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth with a complementary disposable toothbrush and began to prepare himself for bed, he sighed in annoyance when he forgot to actually pack any clothing, all he had were the clothes he was currently wearing (his yellow vest and stonewashed jeans) 500 munny in his pocket and kairi's good luck charm that riku was supposed to give to sora when he found him.

Kairi...

riku never understood it, what did she see in him that had her so attached? Why Sora? Riku knew sora had a thing for kairi and he knew kairi had a thing for sora, but he always thought it was some kinda childhood crush that would ether die down as they got older or be forgotten once they each found someone better. Riku should have known, because he had his fair share of childhood crushes that he grew out of, and there were a few girls he had forgotten about once he met others that were better. Yeah he was a heart breaker. But even though riku did rapidly switch from girl to girl, he always had this ability to stay on friendly terms with his ex's, well maybe friendly wasn't the right word, but he hasn't seen any death threats on his front door yet, so that counts for something, right?

Riku set the charm down on the nightstand that was beside the single bed with green sheets, riku crawled into it and let sleep take him.

* * *

Sora and ria had been playing board games for what seemed like five hours strait. Even though it was three in the morning, they weren't tired, sora guessed it must have been the board game adrenaline rush that he and riku used to get when they played board games in his basement.

The two of them must have played every game at least twice, yet it never seemed to get boring, this was also a great way for sora to get to know ria a little more. The shy, quite girl that sora was had known just disappeared, every time sora's words came out wrong (which happened a lot) ria just laughed and giggled, instead of feeling awkward and insecure. they could both talk to each other easily since their brains were distracted by the game, sora had even told her about his nobody, roxas.

Sora had also mentioned how kairi would never play a board game with him, and how riku always quit before the game got intense. It was fairly difficult for sora to actually keep his friends from quitting, but with ria, it was a different story, she was always ready for a rematch, even if they were playing for so long.

"right foot, green" she said as she moved her foot to the appropriately colored circle.

"hey, could you spin for me?, if I move i'll fall." sora said from under ria, both of them being tangled in each other.

Ria stretched her hand out to the spinner but her balance failed her, and both sora and her fell to the ground. The two of them stood up and stretched out a bit, laughing the whole time.

"ow, I knew i shouldn't have played this game with you." ria said.

"hey, if it makes you feel better, i'd love to be tied in a knot with you again." sora said, but then gasped at how inappropriate his sentence sounded.

Ria looked wide eyed at him for a while, before bursting in laughter (which sora joined her in).

The gummi ship had then came to a stop, signaling it's arrival at ria's world.

Great, now that they were here, sora could finally see the place ria called home, he didn't bother looking at the terminal that told the name of the world, since he wanted it to be a surprise, instead he looked at the huge mess he and ria had created. Board games and bags of chips, cookies and other snacks had been spread across the floor of the ship. Ria had also noticed the mess and began picking up bags of chips and putting board games back in their proper boxes.

"what?, your not gonna help?" she said to sora, who was just standing there, watching.

He soon began to help after ria threw a bag of snacks at him, a few minutes later and the gummi ship's floor was swept free of snack crumbs and all board games were put back in their boxes and were returned to the cargo hold, ria smiled at her work, even if sora had done most of it.

They soon went to the exit of the gummi ship which was some kind of teleportation pad. Ria and sora had stood on the pad and a large flash of bright light had gleamed itself in ria's eyes, causing her to give a small sound of pain as a reaction to the bright light, when she opened her eyes, everything was all blurry and hard to see, after rubbing her eyes, her vision soon adjusted and cleared up.

"oh, sorry ria, I forgot to tell you that your supposed to shut your eyes when the teleport pad activates"

"thanks for the heads up, sora" she said sarcastically.

Ria and sora were now on her home world, everything in this place was familiar to her. The two trees that stood in the middle of town, The large gate to the south, the cafe to the east, the accessory shop to the north. Ria had finally remembered the name of her home.

"traverse town..." she said. She had spent most of her life in this place, even though she rarely got out of her home, she often loved taking moonlight walks at night, it was just something that calmed her.

Sora held his hands behind his head, (as he usually did) while taking in the scenery of traverse town. so many memories had been made here, so many good times. Sora wondered, he had been to this world many times and he got to meet a lot of new people, but why had he never met ria here? If she spent her whole life here then why had he never seen her before?

Sora yawned, man he was tired, it was four in the morning after all, normal people were asleep at this time and that was apparent here, the whole town was pitch black, all lights, even the street lights were out.

"so... what now?" ria asked. "should we start looking for the keyhole, or do we track down the organization's heartless?"

"umm, to be honest, i'm kinda tired. Maybe we could start in the morning?" sora asked.

Ria nodded after she felt a yawn escape her mouth, and sora could tell by the bags under her eyes, she was ready to knock out. They could have gone back to the gummi ship but ria suggested they go rest in her house, before sora could even say anything, ria just began walking in the direction of her home, assuming sora would follow (which he did) it was something that would be seen as rude but she must have been so tired she probably couldn't even hear if he said anything. The two of them kept walking through the streets until they came to an aged red brick apartment building, the place was old and judging by the cracks in the bricks, time was probably not the kindest person to it. Ria had led sora in and the two of them got in to the elevator.

The elevator wasn't in such good shape ether, the lights inside flickered and buzzed constantly, the thing wobbled like it was going to break at anytime, there were only thirteen buttons which sent them to one of the floors that held the apartments, ria's was on the 11th floor.

The elevator's doors squeaked as they opened slowly and ria got out along with sora.

The inside of the building was worse than the outside and the elevator combined. boring, grey old walls that were begging for a new coat of paint. a red, cheap carpet that didn't match the walls at all, it all brought one word to sora's mind. _Tasteless..._

they soon came to a red painted wooden door that held a plaque with the number 22 on it, ria tried to open the door but soon discovered it was locked, after checking her pockets she gasped and sighed in defeat.

"whats wrong?" sora asked.

"i left my keys in my old outfit, which I left in radiant garden" she said. _Clumsy ria, bad girl!_ Her mind scolded her like a mother would do when she caught her child throwing eggs at peoples houses.

She checked an ugly looking plastic plant, in hopes that her guardian had remembered to put the spare key back in its hiding place.

surprise surprise, the spare wasn't there.

Ria sighed as she moved her hand towards her scalp and gently pulled out a bobby pin that was hidden under her locks of silver hair, she then used the bobby pin in an attempt to pick the lock to the door.

"what are you doing?" sora said, surprised by her actions.

"i get locked out all the time, so I taught myself how to pick locks" she said as she concentrated on breaking into her own home. "come on baby, let me in." she said, hoping the door would take pity on her. The tumblers of the lock were lined into place and the door was opened.

after they entered the apartment, ria shut the door and locked it, just for safety measures she put the chain that prevented the door from opening all the way, into its slot on the door, this wasn't exactly the safest place to live. so the more security, the better. Siting on the shelf next to the door was the missing spare key that was _supposed_ to be in the plastic plant _outside_. She sighed, again. Her guardian was the most forgetful person in the world.

Sora had looked around the apartment and found it was... how would he put this nicely? It matched the over all theme of the building.

A grey carpeted floor that had stains all over, walls that were still begging to be painted a different color, and cheap looking furniture. Sora couldn't imagine a girl as pretty as ria living in such a place like this.

Ria gave another sigh as she saw sora looking around her living room.

"_Great, now he must think i'm a filthy slob."_ she thought. It wasn't her fault for living in such a disgusting place, the other homes of traverse town were expensive with high rent and her guardian would never be able to afford a nicer place. If ria could, then she would have moved out years ago, but that was impossible, she was sixteen, not allowed to live alone until she reached full adulthood.

"well... we should call it a day" ria said. _Oh wait!, where is he going to sleep?!_ Her mind said as she came to the realization that her home lacked a guest room, the only places that were made for sleeping was her guardian's room and her room, _this means he and I would have to, _ria gulped, _share my bed..._

"yeah, so where do I sleep?" sora said. judging by the size of the place, there probably wasn't a guest bedroom. After turning around, sora saw a shocked expression on ria's face, then a wicked thought came into sora's mind. _If there is nowhere for me to sleep then she and I would have to, _sora gulped, _share her bed..._

sora quickly pushed that thought away, he would never do that, sora was a gentleman and he would act as such.

"hey, no worries ria, i'll just sleep on the couch." sora said, turning to a brown couch that was caddy-cornered against the wall. He began to walk over and jumped onto it.

"no sora, you don't wanna-" ria tried to warn him.

"ouch!" sora said as he landed hard on the couch.

"-do that"

sora was laying on what must have been the most uncomfortable couch in the world, when he landed on it he hurt his back, it felt like he was sleeping on pure concrete. He scooted and shuffled but no matter what position he took, he couldn't find a comfortable way to sit on this thing.

"hey, if you want, you could take my bed and i'll sleep on the couch." ria said, seeing how uncomfortable he was on that horrible couch. It wasn't right, he was a guest, he deserved a proper place to sleep, it would also be made even worse if ria's guardian was to wake up and see sora sleeping or trying to sleep in their living room, she would probably think sora was a thief who broke in, but it would also be worse if she found out ria had brought a boy home. She really didn't think this through.

"no, this will do" sora said, pretending to look comfortable.

It was late and ria was too tired to argue, she would just have to deal with this.

Ria then went into the hallway which had a small closet at the end of it that was filled with small pillows and blankets, after giving sora all the things he needed, she then began to walk down the small hallway to her room, she passed by her guardian's room and saw the door halfway open, inside the master bedroom was ria's guardian and caretaker, laying down on the large queen sized bed, her head hidden under the pillows, completely knocked out.

That was how it went, the two of them only gave each other passing glances, in the morning ria would wake up to find her guardian had left to go to her job, while ria would prepare for school. during the weekends the two would just spend the two whole two days in their separate rooms, only coming out for food.

Ria sighed. She didn't really like the fact that her guardian never cared about her, even if this woman had raised ria.

They used to be close, but that was when ria was only six. Her guardian just ignored her more and more as the little girl grew older, now they barely looked at each other. Why? Why was ria treated this way? Had she done some unspeakably horrible thing that destroyed their relationship? Or did this woman simply think that ria was old enough to live her life without someone constantly holding her hand?

Ria slowly shut the door of her guardian's room and began entering her own room.

After changing into a white nightgown, she crawled into her bed and waited for sleep to take her.

Sora had been tossing and turning on the couch for what seemed like hours. He knew most couches were uncomfortable to sleep on, but this couch was also uncomfortable to even sit on, riku's basement floor was more comfortable then this crap!

"what's in these things, rocks?" sora said, as he fluffed the couch cushions for the one-hundred and sixty-sixth time.

He laid his head back down and at least tried waiting for the sun to rise, he glanced at the clock that had been hung on the wall over the arch that led to the kitchen.

"5:am, just two more hours" he said as he closed his eyes, eventually sleep had come for him.

* * *

_Sora was having the best lucid dream of his life._

_He and kairi were sharing a strawberry milkshake at a cafe on destiny islands, everything was perfect, no riku to upstage him, no selphie to draw kairi away from him, no tidus with his stupid sokai, everything was perfect._

_Kairi giggled at him, sora smiled at her._

"_oh, I have to go to the lady's room for a second, sweetie" kairi said as she got up from her chair._

"_don't keep me waiting too long." sora said, not wanting to waist the rest of his dream waiting for her._

"_don't worry babe, if you start to miss me, then just dream me back" she said as her fingers slid off from sora's chin, and she began walking toward the restroom._

_Sora laid back in his chair, and closed his eyes, confident that dream kairi would return soon._

"_i'm back, sweetheart!" she said, returning to him. That was fast._

_He opened his eyes and gazed upon the flawless face of... Ria?_

"_sweetie, eat it before it melts" she said pointing at the milkshake, sora looked at it only to find that the strawberry milkshake was replaced by a bowl of chocolate ice cream that was covered in white chocolate syrup, and had two small cherries at the top._

_Ria giggled as she took one of the two spoons from the bowl and began eating._

_Something was wrong, ria wasn't supposed to be in his dream. Sure, he liked ria a lot, but not this way. He saw her as a friend, not a love interest._

_She dipped her spoon back into the bowl, and took a rather large part of the ice cream with it, she held it up to sora's face, gesturing for permission to feed it to him, sora tried to protest but he just began stuttering, as soon as he found the words to say, ria pushed her spoon into his mouth, her face still holding that beautiful smile._

_After sora had eaten the ice cream, kairi returned with a shocked expression and slammed her hands on the table in anger, causing sora to fall off of his chair._

"_sora?, what is she doing here?" kairi said in a somewhat hurt tone._

"_isn't it obvious? Me and sora are on a date" ria said, with a prideful smile on her face. Her voice was calm and collected, were as kairi's was nervous and shocked._

"_but he's supposed to be here with me!" kairi shouted._

"_well he's not. face facts, sora doesn't love you anymore, and why should he when he has an amazing girl like me?" ria said, still holding that confident smile._

"_sora, how could you?!, after everything we've been through!" kairi said with a frown that could destroy a heart._

"_after all you've been through? Don't make me laugh, you're the one who just wants to be friends"_

"_that, thats not true!" kairi said again._

"_oh, please! Just accept the fact that sora doesn't love you the way he loves me!" ria said, standing up from the table._

_The two of them began yelling and screaming rather hurtful things at each other, calling each other out on their appearances and flaws._

"_albino!" kairi shouted._

"_tomato head!" ria shouted back._

"_home wrecker!" kairi shouted._

"_TONGUE CHEWER!" ria finished._

_Kairi gasped, "you take that back, you... you" the two began arguing again._

"_but the charm I made was for him!" kairi said._

"_what? This?" ria said, pulling kairi's lucky charm out of thin air._

"_that's mine!" kairi said as she tried to grab her charm, but ria kept it out of reach._

"_oh sora, please take my poorly made collection of useless sea shells and remember that wherever you go, i'll always be with you!" ria said, impersonating kairi. "really?, this is supposed to win his heart?!, a bunch of old sea shells on a cheap piece of string?!, you are so pathetic!, poisoning my sora's mind with your cheap trinkets!"_

_This was bad, really bad, sora's perfect dream had quickly turned into a nightmare, and the worst part was the fact that he couldn't fix it, he tried as hard as he could to dream ether kairi or ria away but it didn't work, all he could do was watch them in fear as they both went at each other like dogs fighting for a bone._

"_he said he loves me more!" kairi shouted._

"_he never said that!" ria shouted. "just admit that i'm better than you!"_

"_why don't we let him choose?" kairi said, both of them glared at sora, expecting their answer._

"_well?, tell tomato head to take a hike!" ria said to him._

"_sora, tell the albino freak to leave us alone!" kairi said to him._

"_can't we just get along?" sora said, trying to calm them down._

"_NO!" the two shouted at him_

"_answer the question!" ria said._

"_don't let her tempt you, sora!" kairi said._

"_TELL US WHO YOUR HEART BELONGS TOO!" they both shouted in unison._

"_i-i don't know!" sora shouted._

_The two of them just stared at him wide eyed, both of them breathing in and out erratically._

_The world around sora began to melt, along with everything in it, including ria and kairi. Now all that was left was a black void. Sora gave a sigh of relief, maybe now the nightmare was over and he could wake up. Sora closed his eyes and opened them again._

_Now he was on a board walk, he began hearing quiet sobs, he turned his head around only to find riku holding a crying kairi in his arms while glaring at sora._

_Sora felt a gentle tap on his shoulder, and when he turned around again he saw ria, she didn't look happy._

_She held her arm up in the air, and slapped sora hard with the back of her hand. The sudden contact of skin on skin followed by the pain he felt was enough to wake him from this kingdom hearts-forsaken nightmare._

* * *

Sora had awakened on the floor, with sweat dripping from his brow, that was one messed up dream. But the weirdest part was sora's inability to control it, he was lucid dreaming for years, so why couldn't he control the dream he just had.

He stood up from the floor and gazed at the clock.

5:27 am. He had only been asleep for twenty seven minutes?

Not wanting to go back to sleep on that horrible couch, he decided to go to the bathroom to wash his face

He walked down the hallway and came to two doors, one of them held a woman sleeping on a queen sized bed, her head was under a pillow so sora couldn't see her face, but judging from the size of the woman, it wasn't ria, it must have been her caretaker.

The other door was ria's room, her room was a lot cleaner than the living room, her walls were purple and her floors carpet was clean and stain free. Sora shut the door and soon found the bathroom at the end of the hall.

After washing his face he thought about checking on ria, just to make sure she was okay.

He opened her bedroom door slowly, and the first thing he focused on was her small single bed that was caddy cornered against the right wall at the back of the room, to the left of the bed was a small nightstand that held a book, a bottle of water and a small reading lamp.

To the other side of the room was a dresser that probably held her clothes, the dresser had a mirror mounted over it and a few framed pictures sitting on it. The room also had a closet, and a television

Sora took a few steps in and looked around a little better, it was somewhat large compared to the small living room, but that was probably because there wasn't that much furniture taking up space.

Sora didn't want to sleep on the couch so he took the blanket and pillow off of it and returned to ria's room and slept on the floor next to her bed.

The floor was way more comfortable than the couch, sora just laid there waiting for sleep to come for him again, as soon as he heard a yawn escape his mouth, ria moved over the other side of her bed, now sora was gazing at her sleeping face, he still had to admit, she looked adorable while she slept.

* * *

Outside Xemnas was gazing at the ugly red bricked apartment. He heard the sound of a corridor of darkness opening, the figure that stepped out was none other than Xehanort (or ansem, the seeker of darkness) Xemnas's heartless.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?" the heartless of Xemnas said.

"i was wondering when my foolish heartless would show his face again" Xemnas said.

"how goes your progress with the girl?" the heartless asked.

"slower than I planned"

"perhaps it is time you make your presence known to her?" Xemnas's heartless suggested.

"she will recognize me" Xemnas said.

"then maybe _we_ should talk to her _as one_." the heartless said.

Xemnas didn't like the idea of rejoining with his heartless, but if any real progress on ria was to be made, then he would have too.

"fine" xemnas said in a low pitched voice.

* * *

**AN: wow this one was a long one for me, hope you enjoyed it!**

**Leave me some feedback so I can know somebody actually likes my dumb stories :)**

**Thanks for reading.**


	15. Chapter 15 :an explanation

Ria was awakened by the sun glaring in through the window above the back of her bed, she quickly moved her head away from the sun's light. She gave a small yawn and stretched out so the rest of her body would wake up. She gave a small glance at the clock and saw the current time.

7:34 AM.

It was rather early, but she would have needed to be awake before 8 o'clock, her guardian left for work at eight. Ria wasn't going to follow her usual morning pattern anymore.

She had questions, and her guardian probably had answers.

Even though she wanted to face her guardian, she knew she wouldn't be able too, it was just the way that woman would look at her, that woman held eyes that judged and pointed out the flaws of everything and everyone.

Ria summoned her keyblade to her hand. She had no intention of using it on her guardian, she just needed it to build confidence. as stated before, ria always felt safer and stronger when she held the weapon in her hands.

"i can do this" she said in a whispered voice.

She stepped out of bed and prepared to confront her 'guardian'.

She exited her room and entered the kitchen, there she saw a tall woman with raven black hair, wearing a black business suit, waiting for her coffee to brew.

This woman was know as Mona, ria's guardian, protector and caretaker.

Ria made throat clearing noises in order to announce her entrance, but mona didn't hear her.

She tried again. No answer.

Ria was getting tired of this. _Screw it, just say something._

"good morning, Mona." ria said.

The woman finally turned her head and looked ria straight in the eyes.

"i suppose it _**was**_ a good morning" mona said, ria picked up on the not-so-subtle insult.

"shouldn't you be getting ready for school?" mona said again. That was it? That was the first thing she would say after not seeing ria for half a year? _Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?_

"that's all you have to say to me?" ria asked.

Mona looked at ria and glared, she didn't like wasting her time just to have a morning conversation.

"you want me to say more?" mona questioned. Ria nodded.

"fine. go brush your hair, you look like trash" mona said as she poured the freshly brewed coffee into a thermos.

"seriously?!" ria shouted with anger deep inside her voice.

Mona quickly turned to ria and was met with a glare that came from the silver haired sixteen year old.

"that's all your going to say to me after all this time?!. you probably don't even know what happened to me, do you?!" ria shouted again.

"what happened to you?" Mona said with anger in her voice, she really didn't have time to listen to this.

"I've been kidnapped by a cult of black coat wearing freaks for half a year, and you never knew?!"

"oh, I thought you ran away" Mona said as she took a sip from her coffee. "so, did you escape? Or did they release you because they saw how useless and pathetic you are?"

ria only glared harder. "i did escape, with the help of this" she said as she summoned her keyblade, lets see how her guardian treats her now that she had one of these babies.

"you fought them off using a gigantic house key?" Mona said as she clapped slowly. "what did you do, unlock all their doors?"

"this is a keyblade, a powerful weapon that chooses its master" ria said.

"i know what it is, foolish girl" Mona said.

"you know these things?"

"of course I do, your mother had one." Mona said.

Ria's mother? She knew Mona and ria's mother used too be the best of friends, but she never knew her mother also was a keyblade wielder.

"since you know about those oversized house keys, that also means you know about other worlds?, light and darkness?"

ria nodded.

Her guardian went into her room and soon returned with a small book with a hard leather cover. It looked like a dairy.

"read the book" Mona said as she placed it down on the kitchen counter, she then walked towards the front door, carrying her thermos of coffee with her.

"after you've read the book, make a choice. Stay or leave, if you stay then I will treat you the same way I have always done, if you leave then you will never be able to call this place home, I will give away whatever I find that belongs you, It will be as if you never lived here." Mona said and then she left the apartment.

Ria felt a small combination of fear and curiosity, she had no idea what secrets this small book held, but whatever it was must have had some connection to keyblades and ria's mother.

She slowly opened the cover and began reading the diary-like book.

* * *

_The skies were dark and fires raged as creatures of darkness began to tear this world apart. People were screaming and running in different directions, desperately trying to escape this chaos, buildings were crumbling and tumbling down, taking the lives of anyone who was foolish enough to stand near them._

_In the midst of the chaos laid two brave women, one with hair as white as snow, and one with hair darker than the feathers of a raven. The woman with white hair was wielding a keyblade, an ancient weapon made to protect the innocent from darkness, the woman with raven black hair was wielding a basic set of twin swords._

_The two of them began slashing through any and all creatures who dared to get to close._

"_Mona!, there are too many of them!" the white haired woman said._

"_your right, we need to retreat, Katherine!" said the black haired woman who was now known as Mona._

_The two then began running away, hoping to do what everyone else was doing, escaping from this world._

_They soon came to a small house that belonged to them, they needed to get two important things that were still in there before they could leave._

"_you two are still here?!"said a man who had short black hair, and was wearing a suit of armor that all keyblade warriors were given. This man was the husband of the white haired woman who was now known as Katherine._

_Just then, a little boy appeared with short silver hair that was similar to his mother's._

"_mommy, whats going on?!" the little boy said, he looked utterly terrified._

"_listen to me, my child. Creatures of darkness are invading, they want your heart, you must leave this world" Katherine said as she touched the cheek of her son's face. She lifted the toddler up and gave him to his father. "take the boy and flee!" she said._

"_but what about you?"_

"_don't worry about me, I'll be fine, just keep our son safe"_

_the man nodded, he stepped outside and threw his keyblade high in the air, and when it returned it had transformed into a hovering vehicle. "i love you" he said a he and the toddler mounted the hovering vehicle._

"_i love you too" Katherine said as she watched her husband and son escape._

"_we have to get my daughter." Katherine said as the two women began to sprint up the stairs._

_On one of the floors was a nursery which held a small crib that a young baby girl was sleeping in, the infant was completely detached from the world that was soon about to be destroyed by darkness, the screams of people had failed to wake her from her peaceful slumber._

_Katherine and Mona had entered the nursery and saw the baby girl with silver hair and bright blue-green eyes, sleeping in her crib, Katherine was about to pick up her daughter when she felt a sudden burst of fire in her back, she screamed in pain as she had came to the realization that someone had shot her with magic. Her scream of pain had caused the baby to awaken and begin crying._

_Kathrine turned to see who it was that had shot the fireball at her back, she saw her friend Mona and an unusual bald man in a black coat carrying a large, demonic looking keyblade._

"_deal with her" the bald man commanded, Mona obeyed his command and plunged her swords into Katherine's chest, causing Katherine to shout in pain. The shout of her pain only made the baby cry harder._

"_why? how could you, Mona? My friend" Katherine said. _

"_i'm sorry." Mona said as she pulled her swords out of her friends chest._

_Katherine had then fell and her blood began to spread all over the nursery floor. Within a few seconds she had bled out._

_Mona had felt horrible for betraying her friend, but it was all worth it, she had proven her loyalty to her master and now she would get a keyblade of her very own, if the light wouldn't accept her, then the darkness would. She would become a keyblade master of darkness._

"_well done, Mona." the bald man said._

"_thank you, master"_

"_now then, to deal with the child." the bald man said as he approached the crib of the crying infant._

_He picked the baby up and held her in his hands. "shh, stop your crying, my dear" he said as he gently moved the baby from side to side, the infant had become soothed by the motion and her crying stopped._

"_good girl" he said. "you are rather smart for someone who is still in diapers, but you are only two months old, so I guess that I am in no position to judge you, yet."_

"_master, what are you going to do with the child?" Mona asked._

"_it would be a shame to waist the life of a creature that cannot defend itself, so I shall instead bear a gift to the infant." he said._

"_a gift, master?" Mona said, confusion on her face._

"_yes" he said as an orb teeming with darkness had been created by his free hand. "hear me, child. I gift you with the power of pure darkness, let it enter your heart and grow in your soul. as you age, the darkness inside you shall age as well, growing more powerful as your body and heart develop. Take my gift, little one. And become she who is one with the darkness!" the orb of darkness had then entered the infants small body._

_The little infant's body had then began to glow purple, the veins that held her blood turned black, and her blue-green eyes had flickered a color of gold similar to the bald man. The black veins in her body then faded away, and her golden eyes had turned into a permanent shade of crimson red._

_The bald master smiled at the infant, pleased that the child easily accepted the darkness._

"_shh... sleep now, little night beauty" he whispered to the infant as she fell into sleep._

"_what will you do with her now, master?" Mona said, as her master held the sleeping baby in his arms._

"_it's not what I'm going to do, my dear" he said to Mona. "it's what your going to do" he handed the sleeping infant to her._

"_what?!" she said._

"_you will care for and protect the child until she is old enough to use her gift"_

"_but master, I-i know nothing of how to care for a child."_

"_it cannot be that hard, you feed it, cloth it, teach it the difference between right and wrong" he said._

"_how long until she is able to use her gift?" Mona asked._

"_hmm" the bald master pondered. "I'd say about... age fifteen should be the time when she will be able to use her power. Until then, you must watch her diligently. Succeed, show me that my trust in you is not miss placed, and I shall make you a keyblade wielder of darkness, Mona"_

"_i will not fail you, master"_

"_good, now let us leave before we are destroyed along with this pathetic world." the bald man and Mona, who was carrying the sleeping infant, had then began walking through a portal, fleeing from the world as it was swallowed by darkness._

* * *

Ria dropped the book on the floor in horror, she couldn't believe what she had just read, so many new things had been revealed to her, the book explained that her powers had been gifted to her by a bald man who also ordered her mother's best friend to kill her and raise her child as her own.

Ria was terrified. But it all made sense, where her dark ability had come from, why her guardian had mistreated her, and her missing family.

In the book, the husband and son had escaped so that meant that she had a father and brother, that was a good thing to learn, but it still didn't help the fact that her 'guardian' had murdered her mother.

Ria's fear had quickly turned to anger, she was angry, so angry that she picked up the book and wanted to rip it apart, but alas the leather casing was too strong for her. So instead she unknowingly burned it with dark fire that came from her hands. The sudden and unintentional use of her power had made her jump and give a small yelp of surprise.

She really needed to learn how to control her power properly, she needed some kind of trainer.

Destroying that kingdom hearts-forsaken book felt good, it certainly took stress away from ria, she felt more relaxed now and began to think about her situation.

Now she had to make a choice, stay here or leave.

If she stayed then she would be treated the same way she had always been treated, ignored and alone. If she left then she wouldn't really be alone anymore. she had met sora, he did talk a lot about how much fun he had with his friends on that tiny little island, maybe she could become a part of sora's home, live on the island with him, meet his friends. Maybe that was her way to start over, have a different life, a better life.

Her mind had been made up, she would leave this disgusting apartment and live on destiny island with sora, riku and kairi, sora talked a lot about them too, sora said that ria and kairi had a lot in common and they might become good friends and that riku guy might teach her how to control her darkness since sora had told her that he learned how to use it.

Speaking of which, where was sora? He wasn't on the couch, and there was no other place to sleep, so where did he go?.

_He probably got so disgusted by this place and left._ She thought.

Only, he didn't leave. Ria heard snoring coming from the hallway and followed it back to her room, there she found sora sleeping on what looked to be a nest of small pillows and blankets. How come she didn't notice he was there before?.

She was interrupted by the sound of her stomach growling, she could sure go for some breakfast, sora was probably hungry too.

She stepped back into the kitchen to look into her fridge, there wasn't really that much food but there was enough to make breakfast for two. Ria wasn't the best cook but she could make simple meals, and what was more simple than eggs and bacon?.

* * *

Sora was awakened by a heavenly smell, after studying the scent he came to a realization.

Someone was making breakfast and it smelt good.

Sora's stomach growled, demanding satisfaction from him, he decided to just take a quick peek to see if anyone was in the kitchen, and if a certain someone had set out a plate for him.

He ventured into the kitchen and found two plates, one had nothing but crumbs, which was indication that somebody had eaten from it, the other plate was filled with food. Two eggs sunny side up, a bit of bacon, and even some waffles, seeing all that food was making sora's poor stomach growl like a dog that was about to attack.

But before he even moved towards the plate, he saw ria sitting on a the chair that faced the plate with crumbs.

"good morning, sora" she said in a cheerful tone.

"morning, this for me?" he said, pointing at the plate full of food.

"yeah, I thought you were hungry so I made breakfast."

"thanks" sora said as he sat down and began eating.

After a little while, ria had gotten cleaned up, packed a few things that belonged to her in a small satchel that she never really used until now and began to tell sora her predicament.

* * *

"wow, thats just cruel" sora said, reacting to her story.

"yeah, and I was wondering" ria said. "sora, do you think it would be okay if I went to live on the island with you and riku and kairi?" she asked.

"yeah!, That'd be great!" sora said, completely overjoyed.

Ria was happy to see the smile of acceptance over sora's face. Now she really felt like she could have a new life with sora and his friends.

The two of them still had a job to do though, there was still the matter of locking that keyhole and finding the organization's heartless. The two decided to leave the apartment and pick up where they left off.

"uh, ria?" sora said.

"yeah?, what is it?"

"i don't think you'll be able to fight properly while wearing a night gown" sora pointed out.

Ria blushed in embarrassment and changed back into the outfit that she received in radiant garden.

* * *

The two had then returned to the 1st district of traverse town, they were now discussing their plans.

"so, what do we do first?" ria asked.

"well, locking the keyhole would be a good idea, but once it is locked, the heartless will leave this world and search for others." sora said. "but if we focus on heartless hunting, more of them will come, which will put the world in greater risk and make locking the keyhole harder.

"what if we split up?" ria asked.

"split up?" sora repeated.

"yeah, I go hunt the heartless and you go close the keyhole, or I could close it and you could go hunt the heartless."

sora pondered for awhile, if one of them locked the keyhole while the other attacked the heartless, then no new heartless would be able to enter the world and the existing heartless would be too busy fighting for survival to even try escaping. It wasn't something sora usually did, since he prefered to keep his companions close to him, but it could work.

"i guess we could do that" sora said. "I'll go lock the keyhole and you can look for the organizations heartless"

ria nodded

_**"sora, let me go with ria" **_roxas had said.

"_what?, why?" _sora questioned.

"_**because you've been with her for the past three days and lets also not forget the organization are looking for her"**_

roxas made a valid point, the organization were strong, and if they grouped up on ria, then she would surely be taken away again. if roxas went with her, then at least she would have some backup, roxas used to be a part of the organization, so he would know the strengths and weaknesses of the nobodies better that anybody else.

"_alright roxas, you can go"_ sora said.

"hey ria, come back!" sora said. Ria heard him and made her way back to him.

"whats wrong?" she questioned.

"i just don't think it's a good idea for you to be alone, I mean the organization are looking for you"

"sora, I can handle them" she said.

"i know, but better safe then sorry" he said.

"fine, but if were splitting up, then who's going to come with me?"

"roxas"

"who?"

sora then began glowing and suddenly a boy with spiky blond hair had appeared, he was wearing the same coat those organization freaks wore.

Sora saw the worried look on ria's face and assured her that everything was okay.

"hi, im roxas" he said.

"ria" she said as the two shook hands.

After a little explanation, the three then made their decisions, sora would go to the 2nd district to lock the keyhole, while ria and roxas went around looking for the organizations heartless.

"come on, babe. Lets have some fun!" roxas said as he put his arm around ria's shoulder and began walking toward the large door that lead to the 3rd district, ria waved goodbye to sora, who waved back.

He waited until they were out of sight and began walking towards the 2nd district, all the while, he was trying to not worry about her. She'd be safe, roxas was with her, and she could protect herself.

* * *

Mona had returned from work early, and had walked in her apartment, she could smell the grease that was used to cook the breakfast that ria must have eaten.

Mona opened the fridge to see what was still inside. It was empty.

Figures, she knew the little tramp would have cleaned out the fridge so Mona would have to waist even more of her time.

On the kitchen floor was a small pile of ash, which indicated that ria had burned something, probably the book she was given.

Mona looked around the apartment and the little tramp was nowhere in sight, she entered the tramp's room and saw that a few items were taken. Some of ria's clothes had been removed from their drawers, a small amount of books were missing, and one particular item was also gone. A locket that belonged to ria's mother.

Mona sat on the couch of the apartment, happy that she n longer had to deal with that little tramp anymore.

"enjoying your new space, I see" said a voice that stepped out of a corridor of darkness.

"Master Xehanort!" Mona exclaimed. Happy to see him.

"hello, my dear Mona. How are you?" he said.

"i am wonderful, master"

"good, and the girl?" he asked.

"she... she is gone, master. I told her to stay with me, but she ended up running away."

"oh, has she?" Xehanort asked. "do you have any idea where she might have went?"

"i have no idea, master" Mona said.

"well, we have a problem then" he said as he turned his back to her.

"what problem?" Mona asked.

"you failed me, I told you to care for and protect little ria, yet you let her go. Worse still, you did not teach her how to control her power. Do you know how easy it is for the darkness to devour those who cannot control it?" he said with anger in his voice.

"i did as you asked, I cared for her until she was able to use her gift, now you must give me what I want" mona said.

"your keyblade" Xehanort said.

Mona smiled. Finally, after seventeen long years, she would finally get what she deserved.

Xehanort had summoned his keyblade and instead of giving her the weapon, he struck her with it, she yelped in pain and fell to the floor. Xehanort stood there, smiling.

"my my, how disobedient you've grown, Mona. I told you what to do and how to do it, yet you failed me."

"p-please master, give me another chance" she said in a voice of pain."

"I'm afraid I don't need you anymore Mona, you have served your purpose, you're nothing but a loose end to me now, and you know what I do with loose ends" he said as a ball of dark fire began to form in his free hand.

"no master!, I can still help you!, i'll find her, i'll bring her back, I promise!"

Xehanort only shook his head. "not only did you disobey me, but you lie to my very face. naughty girl, Mona"

"NO MASTER! PLEASE GIVE ME A SECOND CHANCE!" she cried.

Xehanort released the dark fireball and it flew across the room until it made contact with Mona and she began to scream as her life had ended.

A heart then emerged out of Mona's body and the darkness inside of her heart had given birth to a new heartless, however the body had not taken the form of a nobody, indicating that Mona's body was not strong enough to survive on its own. The body just laid there.

Xehanort sighed and began to exit the apartment, he had so much to do now that his heartless and nobody had rejoined, now he had to find the girl, his new pupil.

* * *

**AN: so this chapter is mainly an explanation of ria, sorry for there not being any action and about the story taking a pretty dark turn, oh and don't expect roxas or Xehanort to be in every chapter.**


	16. Chapter 16 :Hand in Hand

Roxas and Ria had been walking through the streets of traverse town in search of the heartless that were supposed to be infesting this world, they had been searching for hours, yet not one heartless appeared. This was odd for roxas, he knew how to hunt heartless, thanks to his experience in the organization. This should have been easy, yet none of the little darkness dwellers were anywhere to be found. The streets should have had people running and screaming in fear, but instead people were taking pleasant strolls while being blissfully unaware of the danger that was hiding itself from them.

Roxas could see that this was going to take awhile. so to pass the time, he had decided to tell ria about his times in the organization, he would talk about his missions, the worlds he got to see, and the Nobodies that were in the organization.

"and then after every mission, me and Axel would always go to the top of the clock tower and eat ice cream, he called it **the icing on the cake!**."

"so is Axel the only one you ever hung out with?" Ria questioned.

"well, I think there was someone else I used to like, but... I can't seem to remember them" roxas said as he tried to remember this other friend he had. He could swear he used to hang out with someone other than Axel but the memory of that person had never came to him.

"was it a girl? I think it was" he said.

Ria looked at roxas with a concern in her eyes, whatever he was trying to remember must have been taking a great deal of effort, he looked like he was having a hard time trying to wrap his mind around it.

* * *

After fighting through the gizmo shop that was crawling with heartless, Sora had finally reached the long ladder to the rooftop that held the great bell of traverse town, once he got up there, he would have to ring the bell three times to reveal the keyhole of this world. Sora put his hands firmly on the ladder and began climbing.

He knew this place was going to have a lot of heartless, but he didn't figure it would be this bad, the place was so full of them that they were practically the only things walking on the streets, every time sora took five steps, more heartless would just show up, by the time he actually was able to keep on moving, he would be exhausted. Sora had a lot of stamina but even then, he couldn't handle all of this by himself.

He was really wishing donald and goofy were here, they'd be a huge help to him, especially now. Goofy would run all the way to the item shop to get sora a potion so he could regain his strength or they'd say something funny that would always cheer him up.

Even though he could fight perfectly well on his own, he still liked traveling with others, the comfort of knowing that you always had someone to watch your back was something he had grown used to, and now that it was just him doing this, he was starting to miss that comfort.

He really wished riku could join him, or if ria had not gotten the idea of splitting up.

He was really starting to worry about her, and he was thinking about her more than usual. Not only was he concerned for her safety but he also just thought about the little interactions he had made with her, she would laugh and giggle at his jokes (which she was probably faking, because sora knew his jokes were terrible). She would be interested in his stories and she also seemed to genuinely care about him, he also seemed to care about her genuinely too, but it still felt rather odd, seeing as how they only met four days ago. And today she literally said 'sora, I want to live on the island with you' it made sora so happy to hear her say that, and it made him even happier when he accepted, the thought of her sitting on the beach with him was a pleasant one.

Yet the odd thing was, they had developed a good friendship rather quickly, if kairi could see how close ria and sora became, she would kill him.

Kairi... sora had almost forgotten about her, she had always been the very reason why he undertook his journeys, to find her so they could all go back to the islands, she was his ambition, his drive, his reason for traveling the worlds, putting himself in great dangers, all for her, and riku too.

It felt strange, he had never really gone this long without thinking of her, maybe it was because he knew she was safe. but still, it felt odd to him.

He soon reached the top of the roof that held the great bell. surprisingly, there were no heartless up here. _finally, a break._

He moved two large crates that were blocking his path and then moved into the tight old corridor, there he brushed the spider webs away from the rope that was attached to the top of the bell, giving it a hard tug.

The massive bell sounded its chime and when looking down at the fountain in the 2nd district, the stained glass style mural had begun to move, changing to a different pattern.

Sora gave a second tug, harder this time.

The bell sounded quieter the second time, but that was probably just his ears getting use to the loud chime.

As the bell chimed again, the mural over the fountain had rotated again, this time it revealed a stained glass portrait of a heart.

"one more time" he said as he breathed in and gave the bell one more heavy pull.

The bell chimed the loudest that time, now the fountain had a mural with a stain glass portrait of a keyhole, the direct entrance to the heart of this world.

Now all that was left to do was to climb down there and seal the thing up.

* * *

Ria and roxas had heard the three great chimes of the bell and roxas had said that sora must have found the keyhole, now they would have to go and tell him that their hunt went awful.

As they took their steps forward, roxas could spot something out of the corner of his eye, it looked like a humanoid figure in white, roxas knew full well what it was.

"ria, duck!" roxas said as he pushed ria to the ground, and he tilted his head back, almost inches away from the dusk's aerial attack.

The two of them quickly got up, only to find that this dusk had not come alone, it brought friends... many friends.

"it's an ambush!" roxas said, as they observed the numbers of their opponents they were surrounded by what must have been thirty nobodies, every one of them a different shape and size.

Ria summoned her keyblade, as roxas did the same.

He pulled the oathkeeper and oblivion keyblades out from his coat, and twirled them around in each hand, showing off and preparing himself at the same time.

The two of them charged at the surrounding nobodies, both of them slashing here and there, quickly getting rid of them, roxas was fighting on the ground with his two keyblades, hacking and slashing anything that came too close, while ria was attacking from the air, sending her enemies high and then slamming them to the ground, occasionally she'd throw out a dark fireball that would do heavy damage, perfect for taking out the bigger enemies, the more she used her powers, the more she took a liking to them, even if all she could do was throw black fire, it was still pretty cool.

The more they defeated, the more there seemed to be, they had been going for about a good hour and a half, roxas looked like he was going to pass out any time soon, and ria wasn't doing much better.

"how many of you are there?!" she yelled before charging again, swinging her keyblade straight at the head of a dusk, killing it.

"how you holding up, roxas?" she said as she turned around, only to see roxas had passed out, and now all the nobodies were coming for her.

She took up a defensive position and only focused on blocking and counteracting.

A half an hour had passed and ria was able to reduce their numbers, now only ten of them remained.

She tried as hard as she could to continue the fight, but her body wouldn't allow it. Her muscles were sore, her breathing was heavy, her own legs could barley support her weight, it was even a struggle just to hold her keyblade, she just couldn't take anymore.

"i... give up" she said, collapsing to the ground in exhaustion.

It was over, they won. Now one of two things would happen, she would die right her, right now, or she would be hauled back to that awful castle in that dark and gloomy world, probably put in a tighter cell and under constant watch, and once again forced to undo sora's hard work.

The nobodies had succeeded, and to further taunt the fallen keyblade wielders, they began doing some twisted dance in celebration of their victory. _Great, add insult to injury._ One of the nobodies had now begun to shake and spasm erratically and charged for ria. Guess they planed on killing her.

But before it could land the killing blow, it had just randomly been set ablaze, then a man wearing the same black long coat as roxas and the organization freaks had appeared, he was wielding bright red chakram-like weapons and had been throwing them at the nobodies, setting them on fire as the weapons touched them. The remaining nobodies had either burned to ash or made a tactical retreat. Once the combat was done, the black cloaked man lifted his hood to reveal his bright red hair styled into slicked-back spikes. Roxas soon woke up from his unconscious state and the first thing he saw brought him joy.

"Axel!" he cried, running into the arms of his best friend. Ria looked at them, so this was axel, if that was so, then ria guessed she could trust him... somewhat.

"Axel? Please!, the name's Lea. Got it memorized?" he said as he embraced roxas, who quickly embraced back.

"i missed you so much, Axel"

"i missed you too, roxas. But seriously, call me lea."

the two had then separated from their hug and axel, or now known as lea, looked towards ria.

"who's this, roxas? You find yourself a girl?" he said, making her blush.

"yeah, this is ria, sexiest girl alive" he said, putting an arm around her, making her blush more.

"hey ria, name's lea. Got it memorized?" he said, pointing towards his skull. Was that like his catchphrase or something?

"Uh, yeah" was all she could say.

"good, I like that, you're a quick learner."

roxas had decided to explain the plan to lea.

"hunting our heartless, you sure that's a good plan?"

"well yeah, we all joined the organization to get our hearts back, right?. So if all of org XIII get hearts, then they wouldn't be nobodies anymore."

"i hate to break it to you roxas, but we didn't 'join' the organization, and it wasn't because we wanted hearts." lea said. "we didn't join the organization, we were forced, the only reason we went along with that was because we had no other place to go, and we still don't. It doesn't matter if we have hearts or not, nothing is going to change."

roxas held his head down in shame, he had such confidence in sora's plan, since sora was a part of roxas, so to hear that the entire thing was an awful idea discouraged him.

"hey, don't worry about it, we can think up another plan." ria said, trying to cheer roxas up.

"ooh, a supporter!, you are turning out to be quite the package, girl" lea said.

"hey, im not his girlfriend!"

"of course your not, your ria sayomi, the escaped prisoner who also has the power of darkness at her fingertips" lea said.

"you know me?"

"i read your file" lea said again, putting his hands behind his head in a relaxed position, like sora would do.

"i have a file?".

After a small little chat, lea said that he had business to take care of, and wished his friend roxas a farewell.

"wait, axe... I mean lea, come with us!"

"sorry roxie, but I gotta keep moving or the organization is gonna come after me next, besides, I can't spend the rest of my time babysitting." he said as he stepped through a corridor of darkness, disappearing.

"roxas, you okay?" ria asked.

"yeah, i'm good. I'm just glad he's okay. come on, lets RTS"

"RTS?" ria asked, confused.

"yeah, RTS, return to sora" roxas said.

"oohh, I get it!" she said.

"come on"

* * *

sora had finally made it to the fountain in the 2nd district of traverse town, now all that was left was to seal the keyhole, find ria, and get out of here. He hoped she and roxas were able to find any of the organization's heartless.

He summoned his keyblade and held it to the lock, the tip of the key began to glow and a beam of light shot out of the weapon, entering the keyhole, the sound of a lock had been heard and with that the keyhole was sealed, this world was safe once more.

"good job, hero" he heard a voice coming from behind, turning to see who owned the voice, he found a man wearing a black and red bodysuit that looked fairly similar to the one riku used to wear when he was under maleficence's control, the man was also wearing a mask too hide his face.

"w-who are you?" sora asked to the masked man, who had his arms crossed.

"it's a shame, you can save as many worlds as you want, but its so hard for you to save your friends."

"what?" sora asked.

"take ria, for example. You might not know this, but your little girlfriend is doomed." he said. "even as we speak, the darkness inside her is withering away at her heart and soul, rotting her mind. Just like it did to riku."

"riku? How do you know riku?"

"think about it. Even though riku learned how to control and master his power, he isn't the same. And ria will be given a similar fate, when the darkness swallows her heart, she will become the one thing she was meant to be, a slave who follows her master willingly, obeying all orders without question, and of course, all slaves need masters, once the darkness has taken over, i'll be happy to apply for that position, i've always wanted a pet." the masked man finished.

"you don't know what your talking about, ria wouldn't let the darkness into her heart!" sora said as he drew his keyblade.

"she already has. you don't understand, do you, ventus?"

"ventus?, the name's sora!"

"ventus, even in that new body, you're still a little wimp who can't put up a fight." the masked man said as he drew his keyblade.

The keyblade's teeth and head were black with a red outline and possessed a round, cog-like shape. The handle wass red and the guard had the same coloration and cog-like shape as the teeth. The shaft was predominantly colored in shades of grey and sported a copper-colored gear in the center, with two intersecting, black chains wrapped around it. Two more chains were also wrapped around the base of the shaft in a similar fashion. It also had two dark blue cat-like eyes; one located in the head of the blade and one embedded in the hilt. Its keychain was comprised of three small, copper gears and ended in a charm resembling two halves of a gear arranged in an S-shape.

The masked man then went into his fighting stance, raising his sword hand above his head, and outstretching his hand, with the palm facing down. It was similar to the way ria or riku held their keyblades, but it was slightly different enough to be unique for the masked man. _Was this like a common stance or something?__._

"come on, ventus. Lets see if your new body helps you run away faster."

sora got into his fighting stance, and began his attack.

He charged forth, but the masked man guarded and quickly countered sora's attack, he was agile, fast too. It was almost impossible for sora to land a hit, and the hits he did land didn't seem to do that much damage. It was like this masked stranger was immune to pain.

Sora had been able to get him trapped in a combo of attacks that sora used, but as he was about to land the finishing blow, the masked man disappeared.

"pathetic!" the masked man said as he slashed sora in the back, teleportation, that's what he used.

Sora fell flat on the ground, defeated in only a matter of minutes.

"that really all you got? Man, you are pathetic" the masked man said. "i'd be going against the master's orders but so what?, a weakling like you doesn't deserve to exist." he said as he charged a dark energy in his hands. This looked like the end for sora, the worse part was that he would never know the face of his killer.

"leave him alone!" the masked man was hit in the head with a blast of dark fire, sora turned only to see ria and roxas, keyblades drawn, and dark smoke coming from ria's hand.

The masked man soon recovered from the attack, large cracks were now apparent on the glass of his helmet.

"great" he said as he took it off, revealing his face. "do you have any idea how hard it is to replace this thing?"

Ria saw the face of the brute who was attacking sora. His hair was long and spiky, the same way sora wore his spikes, only this brute had more than sora and his hair was raven black, his eyes were golden yellow too. If you didn't know better, you'd think they were slightly identical twins. This man's was also slightly more built than sora and was about a good two inches taller.

The man re-drew his keyblade.

Ria glared "keyblades are not something you can use to just bully someone around!"

the two of them prepared to fight while roxas went to help sora.

Don't get him wrong, roxas would have loved to beat that jerk's face in, but what mattered more was sora's safety, if he ever died then so would roxas, they were somewhat the same person after all.

Ria had noticed that she shared the same combat stance as her opponent, which meant one thing, he fights aggressively, this stance in usually taken by those who care more about dealing damage then receiving it.

Ria and the brute charged at the same time, their keyblades clashed and the two were both trying to overpower one another with their weight, ria knew she wouldn't be able to last long, he was muscular and her arms were like toothpicks, she hoped that ether sora or roxas would come to her aid so they could outnumber this guy.

Her prayers were answered when a guy in in a yellow vest with silver hair had laid a slash through the brute's back, causing him to react to the sudden attack, which allowed ria to sneak a painful slash though his chest, tearing a bit of the cloth of his bodysuit.

The guy with silver hair had a keyblade as well and joined ria in the fight.

"riku!" sora shouted, giving a name to the newcomer, so this was sora's friend, well ria was glad for the assistance.

Both roxas and sora quickly joind the fight and the four of them had this jerk surrounded and outnumbered.

"four to one doesn't really sound fair" he said as a corridor of darkness opened up behind him. "so I guess im out. Consider yourselves... on probation." he then walked away into the black portal, roxas wanted to go after him but riku stopped him, saying that the brute wasn't worth it.

After everything had settled down, roxas had returned to sora's body and riku was filled in on what was going on.

"so let me get this straight, the organization have been using her to unlock worlds and collect hearts and through some kind of magic plot thing, they are all alive?"

"that's about it, two whole quests to save the universe, flushed down the drain" sora said.

"oh, im sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet, im riku" he said to her.

"im ria" she said as they shook hands.

"so, why are you here, riku?" sora asked.

"i'm looking for my family"

"what family?" sora said.

"i have a missing sister and mother, and their out there somewhere, I want to find and meet them" riku said as he looked high into the skies.

Ria could understand riku's plight, she recently discovered that she had a missing father and brother and she would like to meet them too.

"hey riku, why don't you come with us?" sora asked. "you can find your family while we stop organization XIII... again"

"no thanks" he said

"why not?" sora said with a heartbroken look on his face.

"this is something I have to do on my own, sora. And besides, I can't be seen with a total sap like you". He said as he gave a small chuckle.

"fine, I don't need you anyway" sora said in a playful tone as he walked away. "come on ria" she followed.

Ria gave a quick look at riku, who was standing in the same spot while gazing up at the stars and moon. She turned around and went back to him.

"hey, riku?"

"yeah? Whats up?"

"i wanna wish you luck on your journey, and... if you find your sister, tell her she's lucky to have a big brother like you." she said as she smiled and walked away.

Riku thought about it for awhile, his quest could be easier with sora and the new girl along to help him, and he had never really spent much time with this newcomer, he would like to get to know ria a little more. he couldn't explain it, but he felt an odd need to be close to her, to protect her, it was kinda like a big brother instinct.

"hey wait up!" riku said while running to them.

sora turned. "i knew you'd come crawling back!" sora said as the three laughed.

* * *

At the top of the rooftops, master Xehanort stood, looking down on his pupil, it was a shame he never got to see her in action against vanitas, but he was more than satisfied when he saw her face the white husks, the nobodies. The young pupil was growing more close to her power as the days went by, soon she would fully accept and depend on the darkness, whether she knew it or not.

A corridor of darkness opened behind the elderly master, but he knew who was in it.

Vanitas emerged from the dark portal and bowed his head in respect to his master.

"you were going to kill him." Xehanort said.

"he wasn't gonna cut it. Even in that new body, he's still a defenseless loser."

"yes, what do you make of my new pupil?" Xehanort changed his subject

"like my opinion matters" vanitas said sarcastically. "i like her, she's feisty and you know how I can't resist a violent woman. it's too bad that weakling interrupted our fun, I never got to see what she was made of"

"in time, boy, you will get your battle" Xehanort said. "i have great things planned for her" he said as he watched her and the others leave the area.

"great things. When she has exhausted her usefulness, then you may have a new toy to play with."

Vanitas smiled at that idea.


	17. Chapter 17 :Xehanort

Master Xehanort was standing on top of a roof top, looking down on the three young teenagers who had decided to eat at a cafe before departing this world. Xehanort had been watching for some time, he had to observe his new pupil thoroughly before introducing himself to her, the others were against the idea, but Xehanort knew that she would need guidance, she would need a master who could understand her limits and slowly push her past them. in a way, she was much like Terra.

A corridor of darkness had opened behind him and out walked a man in an organization coat, he had long blond hair, and a sophisticated look on his face.

"vexen" Xehanort said. Announcing the name of his visitor.

"lord Xehanort" he said.

"what have you learned? Why are the heartless avoiding her?" xehanort asked, her being his pupil.

"it is her dark aura, it is sending a hostile energy that frightens the heartless, causing them to flee before they are even in eyesight. the fact that she is also a keyblade wielder only adds to the sheer amount of fear they have." vexen said.

Xehanort was perplexed, there was no way someone could develop such a powerful aura, what was even stranger was that the heartless should have been given more of a reason to attack her, simply because her aura was practically screaming _'I'm powerful, attack me'. _

He came to the conclusion that someone had sabotaged her, changed her darkness that he had given to her. And he knew exactly who the culprit was.

"maleficent" he said with distaste.

"the fairy?, what about her?" Vexen asked.

"she has manipulated my pupil, now she must face consequences"

"how delightful" vexen said as he planed to return to the castle.

"vexen, how goes your little experiment?" xehanort asked.

"rather well, all I need now is a piece of DNA, and it will be ready. I don't require much, just a strand of hair will do."

"very well" xehanort said, dismissing vexen.

He set his gaze back to the table they were sitting at.

* * *

"i just don't get it" sora said from the table. "you said you never found one heartless?"

"i'm telling the truth" ria said. "maybe its because of my connection to the darkness?"

"not possible" riku said.

"what do you mean, riku?" sora asked.

"i mean tha-"

"All darkness is different in some way, every dark heart is unique, your unique darkness would be seen as a challenge to the mindless creatures you call, heartless."

riku was interrupted by the voice of an old man who was standing a respectable distance from their table. They turned to see an old man, bald except for his thin eyebrows and curled, silver goatee. His ears were oddly pointed and his eyes were bright gold.. He had broad, hunched shoulders and a crooked back. His overall appearance was that of a somewhat feeble old man. but riku knew better, he could smell the powerful yet foul stench of darkness on this _'weak' _old man.

"who are you?" riku said in a harsh and aggressive tone, while standing up from the table.

Sora and ria stood up as well, sora could see the nervousness in riku's eyes, this caused unease in him. Riku wasn't an easy person to freak out.

"calm yourselves, I bear no harm" he said. His lies only made riku's stress grow.

"who are you!" he shouted as he summoned his keyblade. "answer me!"

"my name is Xehanort" he said as he raised his empty hands into the air.

Riku could recall the name from the dreams of Terra, but that name was also associated with the heartless that haunted riku.

Sora showed distress to that name, that was the original name of the man who's heartless had kidnapped kairi, and the somebody of the leader of organization XIII, Xemnas. But something was wrong, this Xehanort looked old and frail, nothing like what Xemnas is. Never the less, sora summoned his keyblade.

"now why would you draw your weapons at me, I'm just a poor and fragile old man." he said.

"you're lying, I can smell the darkness on you, you're far from fragile, old man."

The old man gave a small chuckle. "nothing gets past you, does it?"

ria was perplexed, riku could smell darkness?, it had a scent?. Now that she took a small whiff, she could smell it too, his darkness had a strong and pungent aroma, which must have meant he was powerful, this also caused ria to become uneasy, but she didn't summon her keyblade, this old man might be powerful, but ria didn't really see any hostility coming from him, though his appearance did give her the creeps.

"what do you want?" sora asked.

"i only wish to make conversation with your little friend." he said, pointing to ria.

"me?" she asked. _Wait a minute, he looks familiar_ "have we met before?" she asked again.

"yes, now you are starting to remember, ria"

ria had soon recalled the book that Mona had given her, and this old man had matched the description, this was him! The person who gave her the powers of darkness, and the same person who took her mother's life.

Ria now summoned her Keyblade.

"i know you!"

"yes, girl. That's correct."

"you… you killed my mother!" ria shouted. Sora and riku had both entered their fighting stances and prepared to attack on ria's move.

"you misunderstand, my dear." Xehanort said. He knew there was going to be some hostility, but he didn't expect this much. "allow me to explain myself before you all attack me"

ria wanted to just beat him senseless, this man was responsible for everything. The death of her mother, her becoming an orphan, and the darkness inside her. He didn't deserve an explanation. But she let him explain anyway.

"fine, tell me your side of the story, then i'll decide what to do with you." she said.

"i thank you, my dear. Now, where do I start?" he said while stroking his goatee. "well, the best places to start are usually the beginnings. Long ago, there was a world called the land of departure, in this world, keyblade wielders of both light and darkness would train and master their powers, your mother trained alongside one of my old friends. However, your mother believed darkness was a horrible and evil force, and that anyone who used the dark was to be destroyed. When I became a master of darkness, she approached and murdered my pupils… violently. They were still learning how to control their powers. they didn't even know how to defend themselves."

"really?" ria asked, she wouldn't believe her mother could do something so awful, but then again, she didn't know her mother, so it could have been a possibility.

Xehanort nodded and continued his story. "i realize that, in my act of mindless revenge, I had unknowingly destroyed the life of a young girl, you. I thought you would pursue me as I pursued your mother, so I gifted you with darkness, so that you may see the darkness the way your mother could not. Revenge clouded my mind at that time, and I do hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me." he finished.

"well, I guess I can forgive you" she said.

"thank you, my dear. And as a way to show my appreciation, a gift" Xehanort said as he pulled out a large, rather old looking leather cover book, the tome must have had a thousand pages.

"this is the _libro tenebris_" **(Latin for 'Book of darkness') **"every keyblade master of darkness has added to this old tome, it has been passed down from generation to generation, my master gifted it to me, and I shall gift it to you." Xehanort said as he handed her the large book.

It took a fair bit of strength to hold the thing in her hands, it was very heavy.

"what is that for?" riku asked.

"it is a tome that describes techniques and powers that darkness wielders can use, a training manual of sorts" xehanort said. Riku opened on of the pages, even the first page held detailed instructions and diagrams of dark abilities, rituals and techniques.

"read the book, ria. Learn how to control your darkness. It is a gift, do not abuse it" he said as a dark portal opened behind him and he entered it, leaving the three teenagers.

"well, I guess its time for us to move on" riku said. Both sora and ria nodded.

"here ria, let me carry that" sora said, helping her with the large tome, riku looked over his shoulder and gave sora a thumbs up, his way of saying "good job".

They then left traverse town and begun traveling to a new world.


	18. Chapter 18 :Riku & Ria

Riku and Ria were sitting in the recreational area of the gummi ship, they were playing chess while sora was in the cockpit, inputting the coordinates for the next world that needed saving.

"checkmate" riku said, wining the game.

"rematch?" ria asked, riku then returned the white pieces he had taken from her and the two began the game again.

"so, that Xehanort guy, you said you know him?" riku asked as ria moved her pawn.

"its a long story" she said.

"i want to hear it" riku said, moving his bishop.

"i was a baby when it happened, he gave me my dark powers, and my guardian (who im guessing was his apprentice) took care of me until I was old enough to use my powers"

"how fast did you embrace the darkness?" riku asked.

"well, to be honest, I use it from time to time, but I don't think trowing black fireballs counts as embracing it." ria said.

"are you scared?" he asked as he took his attention away from the chess board and looked deep into ria's crimson red eyes. Remembering when he used to fear the darkness inside himself

"well... kinda." she replied. "you use darkness too, right?. Is it as bad as sora says it is?, Can this power really corrupt you?, turn you into a monster?"

"well… kinda" riku answered. "it all depends on how close you put yourself with it, if you embrace the darkness, you gain amazingly dangerous strength, but you risk the possibility of damaging your heart. It doesn't happen to all darkness users, but some people just can't handle all that power." he said as he took her knight.

"what if you try to push the darkness away?, seek redemption in the light."

"it doesn't really work that way… the light is like a spoiled princess, it looks sweet, welcoming, loving and caring on the outside, but on the inside, it can be as cruel and hateful as the darkness, and it's just as dangerous. And you can't really push darkness away, it will always come back, better and stronger."

"riku, how fast did you embrace the darkness?" ria asked.

"too fast" riku said. "the moment the heartless invaded our island, I felt the darkness enter my heart and like the fool I was, I embraced it without even knowing what it would do to me. At first, I felt amazing, like I was the most powerful person in the world."

"what happened?" ria asked, wanting to know.

"sora happened." riku said in a low voice. "i saw how the light welcomed him, I saw how quickly he replaced me and kairi, and that… damn keyblade of his" riku continued, he could feel the rage building slowly in his voice. "every time I see that stupid thing, I am reminded of the rage I felt when he defeated me long ago, I was always stronger and better at everything, but that... thing chose him, all because he believed in his heart more than his power, for those few seconds, he was stronger then me, the rage I felt was to great for me to handle. since then, all I wanted to do was make his life miserable. I wanted to humiliate him, make him see that I was and always would be the strongest. That was how I used to feel."

"why?" was all ria could say.

"because that's what the darkness does to you, it gets inside your head, finds out what drives you crazy, manipulates the way you think, the way you feel. It makes you do things you would never dream about doing, it changes you, permanently."

"what did you do that was so bad?" ria asked.

"i… I took kairi's heart." ria probably shouldn't have asked that question, riku now looked so depressed, like the most precious things in his world just got taken away from him.

"what's so important about kairi?" ria asked, she didn't like to admit it, but hearing that girl's name over and over was starting to annoy her.

"everything actually, she's a princess of heart, her heart is made of pure light, she's a pretty big deal" riku said.

_Great._ ria thought sarcastically. _That's probably why sora likes her so much, she must live in some kind of castle, wears a tiara, has tons of guys begging to be with her, Gets whatever she wants, And she's probably drop dead gorgeous. _

"can you tell me about her? Whenever sora talks about her he-"

"he goes on for hours about her hair?" riku asked. Ria nodded "yeah, he won't admit it, but he's a love struck fool"

"does she... feel the same way?" ria asked. _Please say she hates his guts_

"she has a thing for him, but she won't admit it" riku said.

"ohh...well I hope they work it out, eventually." ria was screaming a multitude of curses inside her head.

"to be honest. I don't think it will work out, she'll probably dump him once she finds someone better. You may not know this, but there are a lot of guys out there that are better then sora"

"and how would you know?" ria asked.

"because your playing a game of chess with one of those guys"

ria gave him a small giggle. "so, if kairi did dump sora, how do you think he'd handle it?"

"he'd be heart broken for a few days, probably depressed for awhile, then he'd get over it and move on" riku said.

"how could you be so sure of that?" ria asked.

"because he's got you now" riku said, moving his king closer to ria's side of the board.

"what do you mean by that?" ria asked.

"he'll cry over kairi, but you (being the good person you are) would support and help him, give him a pat on the back, tell him everything is alright. Then the fool will open his eyes, and his heart will be yours for the taking." he said.

"what will be hers for the taking?" sora asked, soon entering the room. Judging by his question, he probably had no idea what they were talking about.

"checkmate again" riku said, beating ria again.

A few hours had passed and ria soon went to her quarters in the gummi ship, she was amazed at how big this thing really was. The gummi ship had a full kitchen, six bedrooms with queen sized mattress', and much more, it was rather hard to navigate, due to the large size.

She soon found her quarters and proceeded to get comfortable.

* * *

Sora and riku were sitting in the room ria had just exited.

"so, did you see that guy?" sora asked.

"which one? The old man or the guy in the bodysuit?" riku asked as he began packing up the chess board.

"the guy in the bodysuit" sora said.

"I've seen him before" riku stated.

"you have?" sora asked "he said he knew about you"

"I've never actually met him. Sometimes when I go to sleep, I have these visions, its like watching someones memories, in one of these memories, I see the masked man… Vanitas, that's his name"

"Vanitas. what do you know about him?" sora asked.

"nothing, all I know is that he's dangerous. wherever he goes, darkness follows."

"he said something about ria, he said that the darkness will swallow her heart, and she'll become his slave. You don't think that's possible, do you?"

"maybe. the darkness swallowed my heart and I had someone posses me, if the darkness can do that, then what vanitas says might be true" riku said.

"i won't let that happen!" sora said. Riku could only shake his head. Sora was so blind towards his new found feelings for this girl, he probably didn't know what he was saying.

"so what? Do you have a crush on her or something?" riku asked.

"what?!, no. I like kairi, remember?" sora said.

"all you ever do is talk about kairi, but ever since I saw you with ria, I haven't heard you talk about kairi once. Face it man, your heart beats for someone else now, someone better. You're just in denial." riku said as he walked towards his room.

"you're wrong!, nobody is better than kairi, nobody!" sora said in a loud tone.

"sure, keep telling yourself that. Oh and here, this is yours" riku said as he threw kairi's lucky charm at him, sora caught it and a flash of nostalgia hit him as he looked at it.

"_take this, it's my lucky charm. Be sure to bring it back to me."_

"_don't worry, I will"_

"_don't forget, wherever you go, I'll always be with you"_

Nobody was better than kairi... right?.

* * *

Ria had been staring at it for a good ten minutes. the book Xehanort had given her was just laying there at the end of her bed. This whole time she was contemplating whether she should read it or not, she even thought against touching it. If the darkness really was what riku had described, then there was a fifty-fifty chance that her heart would be tainted by it, but it was also the only power she had that she could use at this very moment, the darkness was what gave her the energy she had and it would be a lie if she said that she didn't enjoy using such power. You know what, maybe now wasn't the best time to be thinking about the darkness, maybe she should just push the book off to the side and just relax, wait a while, give herself a few minutes to calm down. Yeah that's what she needed.

She had began to think about the words she had shared with riku, she liked him, he seemed a little intimidating at first, but once you got to know him, he wasn't so bad.

It was odd but ria could swear she had seen his face before, she couldn't quite place it, but she somehow knew that he is (and probably always was) an important part of her life.

Her thought was interrupted by a knock on the metallic door of her room.

She stood up from her bed and went to answer. After pressing a small button on the control panel next to the door, the door slid into the wall, now that it was open, she saw riku standing in her doorway.

"hey, whats up?" ria asked.

"grab that book and follow me" he said pointing towards the book that Xehanort had given her.

She was hesitant but with riku at her side, her worries didn't seem as prominent as they originally were.

She took the large tome in her hands and began to follow riku towards a part of the gummi ship that she had never been to before.

* * *

Sora had been sitting in the captain's chair in the cockpit of the gummi ship. He wasn't flying it, that was the auto-pilots job, he was just sitting there, looking down on the lucky charm that had been crafted long ago by kairi, it was just sitting there in his hands, occasionally he'd brush one of the seashells with his finger, feeling the nice little ridges and bumps, the smooth textures. more memories of her and the island were becoming more prominent as he held the tiny charm made of seashells. The islands… Kairi… sora wondered, did she ever find that old rock drawing of their faces?, did she see what he had done to it?, did she even understand what it meant? Theses were very important questions that needed answers immediately, but it was impossible for sora to receive those answers right now.

All sorts of new questions now bombarded his mind, only they weren't about kairi, instead they were about another young lady that sora had been growing more and more close to every day.

Was riku right?, had sora developed feelings for her?, was he in denial of these new feelings?. Not he or anybody could answer these questions. He liked ria a lot, he really did. Everything about her was perfect, she was friendly (like kairi) she had the most beautiful smile (like kairi) and sora didn't want to admit it, but he could go on for hours about how amazing her silver hair was (like kairi, minus the silver part). Maybe sora had developed feeling for ria. Maybe riku was right, riku was always right.

Part of sora wanted to believe riku's word, another part rejected those words entirely. The worst thing about this, sora couldn't decide which part of him made more sense.

* * *

Ria was now leaded into what looked like some kind of virtual reality room.

Riku was messing with a control panel and in a few seconds the room had changed from an ordinary, empty space to a tropical beach scene.

"this is what our island looks like" riku said.

Ria looked around and already began to notice the many details of this simulation.

She could smell the sea-air, she could hear the waves gently crashing onto the sands, the sky was clear, the sun was beaming heat. She knew this was just a simulation but it still felt like the real thing.

"why are we here?" ria asked.

"im going to train you" riku said.

Ria smileed in joy, finally someone who could properly teach her how to use her power, instead of her just figuring it out for herself.

"first, get into your fighting stance" riku said.

Ria drew her keyblade and got into the familiar stance that she always took.

She stood in her stance as riku walked around her slowly, observing her form. She soon felt his hands on her waist, and they began to move forcing her to change position.

"stop slouching, stand up straight, improve your posture" he said as his hands guided her to the correct form. She never noticed she was slouching.

"when you slouch, you're taking the weight of your upper body and moving it forward, if I were to strike you from behind, you would fall right on your face. Your spine would also begin to ache and you'd waste most of your energy. Posture is everything when using this stance, a straight back will allow more fluid movement, faster dodges, higher jumps." he said. "now, attack me while keeping your posture."

"are you sure?" ria asked, she didn't want to hurt him.

"relax, im not delicate. I can handle a few hits" he said, ria then began her attack, riku had summoned his keyblade, and mainly focused on blocking ria's attacks, she was quite good for someone who never really had any training before, she strikes with such strength that no girl ria's age was capable of having, it was then riku knew, the darkness inside ria had been giving her strenght. Ria had been noticing the 9improvments already, it defiantly felt much more easier to dodge and jump thanks to riku's improvements.

He had blocked most of her attacks and finally noticed something that would get her killed if it wasn't corrected. His leg came into contact with hers and she fell backwards onto the sand, which was actually a cold metal floor.

"this is fighting, not ballet dancing. Your legs are too close to each other, keep them separate."

she followed his instructions and began her attack again.

* * *

Sora was in his room on the gummi ship, this place had felt like home for him ever since he first entered the gummi ship. The room was metallic (like the rest of the ship) but it had been a somewhat successful recreation of his room back in destiny island, everything somewhat looked the same. Expect all metallic instead of wood.

He tried to put his head down, get some rest before arriving at the new world they were traveling to. However, he found it impossible to even close his eyes, his mind was buzzing with confusing questions that he didn't have the answers for, and now that he had kairi's lucky charm in his hands, all he wanted to do now was see kairi, he wanted to go back to destiny island… home.

Sora knew that wasn't a good idea, but he really did want to see kairi again.

Sora stood up from his bed and opened a drawer on the nightstand next to it. Inside the nightstand was a hand mirror. The frame that held the glass was made of silver and had engravings of long rose patterns.

The hand mirror was a gift from one of his friends, beast. The mirror had the ability to show the user anything they wanted. People, places, you name it, the mirror will show it.

"show me kairi" he asked to the mirror. It began to glow a green light and sora's reflection was replaced with the sight of kairi, sleeping in her bed.

As sora looked at her, he could already feel his burdened mind begin to ease. Now he thought he could sleep.

* * *

**AN: So sorry about the delay on this one. **


	19. Chapter 19 :A charm made of seashells

"that's it, hold in your breath while you aim, exhale when you release" riku said.

Ria followed his instructions and exhaled while releasing the dark fireball that she was aiming, the fireball his its target.

Riku was impressed at how fast ria was learning, it had took him days to discover and memorize the techniques that he used, but ria seemed to pickup on them immediately, that's probably because she's learning from the best.

"all right, ria. The easy moves stop here." riku said. "now its time to see how well you learn a completely new attack"

"bring it on" ria said. She was amazed at how much she had improved thanks to riku's teachings. She was a good enough fighter on her own, but now she felt like she could take on anything.

"try learning this spell" riku said, pointing to a page in the book that Xehanort had given her. The page seemed to contain the means to summon ice, the ability to freeze your target solid.

"okay, picture in your mind, the frozen tundra, the icy winds, feel this energy coursing through your mind. Channel that energy into your darkness and expel it from your body" riku said, reading straight from out of the book.

Ria did as told and as she pulled her hand back, she could feel the cold coming from her palm, she released this energy and it was sent to her target, which was a palm tree. The icy blast hit the tree and froze it solid.

"good work" riku said. "you actually did it"

"thanks, riku" ria said, that move might have taken a bit out of her.

"hey, why don't we take a break, we'll be landing soon and you'll need your strength." riku said as the tropical isle now turned back into the large metallic room.

Riku and ria then left the training room.

On the way back to her room she seemed to have found what must have been sora's room. Looking through the half open door, she could see him, sleeping like an exhausted child.

She decided to get a little peak at him, it only seemed fair, she knew he watched her while she slept.

she welcomed herself into the room and got comfortable.

"_what are you doing?, have you really resorted to this?, watching people sleep." _her mind scolded her.

She knew this was somewhat wrong, it was kind of like an invasion of privacy. But the again, what was the harm?, so you just watch somebody stay lifelessly still for a few minutes, there was nothing wrong with that… right?.

Her gaze had then darted to some kind of shiny object under sora. Curiosity soon got the better of ria and she tried to pull the shining object slowly out from under sora.

She succeeded and the object was now in her hands, a small mirror.

She really didn't see why sora would need to own such a small (and rather feminine) mirror. Maybe he was just one of those people that liked looking at himself, or maybe it was a gift from someone, or perhaps he just liked mirrors. But then why would he sleep with one?.

Not wanting to think about it, she just sat down on a chair that was next to his desk, which had a small journal on it, ria looked at the small book, and thought about reading it but she soon threw that thought out of her head, a journal was like the boy version of a diary, and a diary was a sanctuary for a person's private thoughts and feelings. Ria used to keep a diary… until mona read it aloud to everyone at her school, sure it was embarrassing but… at least people noticed her after that.

Her attention soon turned to what looked to be a tiny collection of seashells, curiosity getting the better of her again, she picked up one, only to discover that these seashells were all stitched together, in the shape of a star. The stitching seemed to be rather strong, ria held it high in the air but they didn't move away from each other.

"what a cute little trinket" ria said, adoring the tiny little charm. When she took a closer look she could see that one of the shells had a drawing of sora's face, she giggled at this. She flipped the charm over to its back and on one of the bottom shells, she could see the name of the creator, it was carved into the back of this charm.

that name only caused ria to glare… kairi.

Ria's glare of anger soon turned into a look of sadness. She turned her head to sora, who was still sleeping.

"i guess the knight in shining armor always has to go to the princess..." ria said in a whispered voice as she put the charm back in its place "i understand… you've known her longer, maybe there's no place like that for me in your heart."

she soon left the room and walked at a brisk pace back to her room.

Returning to her quarters, she sat down, cross legged, on her bed and held her head up with her hands.

It was probably wrong for ria to ba acting this way, and to be so filled with anger at the hearing of kairi's name. Kairi was probably a sweet girl. Ria shouldn't judge people she has never met.

She didn't realize that she was still holding sora's mirror. She held it up to her face to look at her reflection, and gave a gasp of surprise when she saw her own face. Her eye color had changed from it's crimson red to a bright gold, and the veins of her pale face had turned black. She was shocked by this. This had never happened before.

After looking at these new (and somewhat disturbing features) she began to calm down a little, as she gave out a sigh, her eyes returned to there normal crimson color and her black veins had vanished, her face was back to normal.

That was odd, when was she able to do that? Did it have something to do with the darkness? Was it also changing her appearance? Were these black veins and golden eyes a sigh? A warning?

She tried not to think about it, and returned to her original subject… kairi.

"i wish I could see what she looks like" she said to her reflection. Just then the mirror began to glow green and ria's reflection was replaced with the sight of a redheaded girl sleeping on a bed, this must be kairi, the description that sora had given seemed to match. There was no doubt in ria's mind, this was kairi. Ria didn't see what the big deal about her was, she didn't look so special, she looked like an average and rather ordinary seventeen year old, sure she was pretty but not drop dead gorgeous, why would sora be so interested in… _her._

Not wanting to think about this anymore, she put the magic mirror on her bedside table, once her fingertips removed themselves from it's hilt, the green glow from the mirror had stopped.

Trying to pass the time, ria took out the book that Xehanort had given her, and began to read a little.

* * *

Vexen was in his lab in the castle that never was. He was working hard on his new and definitely improved experiment which was floating in its chamber, soon it would be ready, it would succeed where his first attempt failed, it would be successful, It had to be.

Zexion soon entered the lab and cast his eyes on vexen's creation.

"impressive, isn't she?" vexen said.

"does it work?" zexion said.

"not yet, but soon, ohh so very soon."

"how can you be so sure this one will actually work? Your last experiment almost killed me" zexion said.

"that was a beta, but this, this is an improvement. Removal of the concept of free will ensures that it will always obey, no matter what the demand is. And unlike the first one, this will never be able to betray us." vexen said.

"i don't know, these things still creep me out" zexion added.

"who cares what you think, your sense of morality blinds you from the true art that I am creating."

"sure..." zexion said. "on a lighter note. I've been having these flashbacks… of us before..."

"before our hearts were taken" vexen finished. "yes, i've been getting them too and their distracting me from my work".

"how much do you remember, vexen?"

"more than I would like too, that chapter of my life is behind me, trapped in the past, where it should stay."

"like what?" zexion asked.

"my past failures, being scolded by my superiors, and having my talents wasted on mundane tasks, kind of like what I am now, I guess somethings never change."

"have you remembered anything else?"

"my name" vexen stated.

"your name?" Zexion questioned.

"who I was before this all happened, its all come back to me, I remember your name too."

"then keep it to yourself, I do not wish to hear it" zexion said as he began walking out of vexen's laboratory.

"very well… Ienzo" Vexen said.

**replica stabilization is 72% complete. **the computer said.

"soon you shall be ready, my beautiful creation… soon"

* * *

**AU: I want to thank Mikayla and Riku forever, for being the first person to give a review to my story, your awesome!.**


	20. Chapter 20 :Olympus coliseum

Hades was sitting on his throne in the underworld while trying to think of a way to help resolve his little situation, ever since wonderboy and his friends rebuilt that Olympic kiddy pool, zeus and pals decided to seal up his underdrome, now what was hades supposed to watch when he was bored.

"um sir?" said a pink skinned, chubby imp that was one of hades lackeys.

"what, pain? Can't you see that im busy?!" hades said.

"well sir, you have a visitor.

"a visitor?" hades asked. What kinda stupid moron would want to bother him now, probably some weak-minded fool hoping to make a deal.

"yeah, and g-get this, he says he knows how to kill Hercules!" said the thinner, twitchy blue imp, panic

"that so?, send him in" hades commanded.

The two lackeys exited his throne room and in walked a kid wearing a black and red bodysuit with some kinda skirt thing at his waist, kid had a helmet on so hades couldn't see his face.

"you must be hades?" the kid said.

"gee, I dunno, how many other gods of the dead do you see around here?" hades said sarcastically. "so, let me get this straight, you know how to make wonderboy go bye bye, right?"

"if your referring to Hercules, then yes."

"okay, tell me your game plan." Hades said. the kid was about to speak but Hades cut him off. "wait, let me guess, you're gonna challenge him to a battle, and because your such a good swords man, you'll win, correct?"

"yes, and I will win" he said smugly.

"forget it kid, I tried time and time again, I've sent warriors who spent years honing their skills, I've sent hordes of monsters, hell I even sent frigging titans against him, and he's still breathing, so if you think you can do what I've been trying to do, you. Are. A complete MORON!" hades shouted, the blue fire above his head turning red along with his body.

"how about a bet?" the kid said.

"excuse me?" hades said as his body and fire… hair returned to their blue color.

"if I fail to kill hercules, then i'll use my keyblade to open your underdrome." the kid said, revealing his keyblade.

"and if you win?" hades asked.

"there's a girl that I would like to become closer with, only problem is she doesn't like taking orders from me, i'll need you to change that."

hades could see something inside the brat that reminded him of himself, it was kind of a win win situation for hades, even if herc was still alive, he would still get his underdrome back.

"okay kid, you got a deal" hades said, offering his hand to the masked boy.

* * *

Sora, Riku and Ria all walked through the gigantic doors that led to the entrance of the Olympus coliseum. And the first thing ria set her eyes on were the huge gold statues of two gladiators clashing swords.

"wow!" ria said excitedly. "this place looks amazing!"

"yeah, it is" sora said. He was so glad that Herc and the others managed to rebuild after the heavy damage caused by the hydra, the coliseum now looked like nothing had ever touched it in the first place.

The three walked into the main lobby and found Philoctetes (or better known as Phil) dusting off the plaque that held the rules of the coliseum, he seemed to be completely unaware of their arrival. To the left of the room stood a large glass case filled to the brim with trophies, won by many different warriors. Ria could notice eight trophies on the top shelf that had sora, donald and goofy's names engraved on them.

"i guess you've been here before?" ria asked.

"what gave it away?" sora asked.

"about time you got here" the satyr said, turning around to face them.

"hey Phil!" Sora said. Ready to finally earn his respect this time, junior hero sora was gone and sora was ready to accept his promotion to true hero.

"so sugarcakes… you got any plans for later? you know, I trained a few heroes in my time. Maybe I can recite you a little epic poetry." phil said walking right past sora and facing ria.

"umm… no thank you." ria said, weirded out by the satyr.

"ppff, fine. But you don't know what ya' missing, sweetheart."

"come on, phil. Lay off on the girl." said a rather muscular man entering the room.

"Hercules!" sora exclaimed.

"sora, good to see you!"hercules said, shaking sora's hand. "who are these guys?"

"this is riku, and this is ria" sora introduced.

"so, you guys are here for the grand reopening?"

"grand reopening?" ria asked.

"yeah, heroes coming from all parts of Greece, all to take place for the games." phil said.

"games?" riku asked.

"gladiators, fights, stuff like that" sora explained.

"yeah, fighting for honor, glory and all that junk" phil said.

"that sounds fun" ria said.

"ohh, you're interested? Then how about I sign you up then?, all even give you some training if you need it" phil said to ria.

"wait, are you kidding me? when I first came here, I had to beg you to let me participate." sora said.

"yeah, and I got two words for you kid. I. Don't. Wanna. Hear. it."

"one… two…" ria counted with her fingers.

"look kid, you can still participate in the games, i'll even let you bring your friends in with you. Maybe now's your chance to truly earn the rank of true hero"

"what rank do you already have, sora?" ria asked.

"junior hero?!" riku said, looking at one of the trophies that sora had won. Sora told phil not to engrave that. Riku then began to laugh for a good two minutes, even ria started giggling.

Eventually, phil started to go over the rules of the coliseum.

"rule number one, combatants may not exit the arena until the battle has concluded. Rule number two, decapitation is only acceptable against non-human opponents… rule number ninety six, aim. Rule number-"

"alright, phil. They understand." Hercules said. "just get out there and do your best." he said to the three.

* * *

Vanitas was sitting behind the gate in the arena, this location was primarily used for combatants to watch the fights while waiting for their turns. Vanitas had his team assembled before even coming to this world, he had been here before, he knew the rules. Master Xehanort had forced vanitas to choose two members of the organization to assist him, not that he needed these useless fools, they'd only slow him down, get in his way, these "high ranking members" were all weaklings if ventus was able to defeat them single handedly, vanitas knew that if anything, ventus was weaker in his newer body, where as vanitas was stronger than ever, he would make that little coward get on his knees and cry for mercy, it was about time vanitas got his revenge.

"woah! Saix, nice eyepatch!" xigbar said.

"shut up!" Saix yelled. He couldn't believe that he was now forced to wear a patch to cover his eye, since it was now disfigured and unusable, the cause of this came from ria, when she escaped the castle, she had shot a ball of darkness into saix's eye and now he was going to get her back for it.

"will both of you BE QUITE!" vanitas shouted. By the ever-lasting darkness, he didn't have time for this.

Just then the three he had been waiting to see had arrived. Riku, the weakling who had slashed him in the back. Ventus, who had insulted vanitas by claiming his likeness. And finally, Ria, his soon-to-be servant.

They were beginning their match and vanitas and his "team" were forced to watch.

He mostly watched and studied ria, after all, he was going to own her, he'd have to know and observe his new pet's limits. His eyes never left her, he watched as she dodged incoming attacks from her enemies, how her long silver hair would toss and turn as her body moved, he'd see how she chose offense over defense, she was a fighter and vanitas found that attractive.

Now he had to look away from the amazing show that ria was unknowingly providing and focus his attention on… him.

Ventus (or now known as sora) was fighting defensively, blocking and guarding, rarely attacking. But vanitas noticed something odd about him, it was like he wasn't even trying to fight. An experienced fighter would never take his eyes off of his opponent, but ventus' eyes were anywhere but on his opponent. Vanitas knew that he was waiting for something, vanitas could also see what must have been a small glint of dread in ventus' eyes, but that dread wasn't towards the enemy and he was certainly not able to see vanitas. Then there was only one place where this feeling of dread came from… what a fool ventus was… afraid of his own ally, vanitas could use this fear against him, that was why ventus was so weak in the first place, he lets fear rule his heart.

The other one, riku, was slashing and attacking his opponents with both his keyblade and the powers of darkness. Vanitas couldn't understand it though, how could a coward like riku have such power, this person who was swallowed whole by darkness and then went to live in constant fear of it, now wielded it as if it was his birthright. riku was strong, stronger than terra, if only the fool had allowed darkness to take him further, vanitas would then have had an admirable sidekick.

"so, are we gonna do something or just stand here and watch?" xigbar said. He couldn't wait to get out there and actually fight for once, he was getting tired of performing recon all day, xigbar knew he was gonna get his butt kicked though, he kept forgetting the one rule that would have kept him out of this mess. _**Don't mess with keyblade wielders**_.

"do we have a plan?" saix asked.

"we don't need a plan, we just go in there and crush them" vanitas said.

"just like that?" Xigbar said.

"just like that".

"i wish it were that simple, Roxas was one of our most powerful members, he will prove quite the challenge and he also has his party to provide support." saix said.

"that's why I brought you fools here. I know you would all like to crush that weakling but remember, our job is not to win, we must get the girl and return her to the castle" vanitas said.

"aww, so we don't actually get to compete?, bummer".

"fine, i've been waiting for my chance to make that little tramp suffer for what she did to m-" Saix was interrupted by vanitas, who was grabbing him by the neck and pinning him against the wall. Xigbar just stood there, watching.

"let me simplify this for you, moron!" vanitas said with rage in his voice, his golden eyes also began to glow. "you may do whatever you wish to the other two, but you will not harm one hair on the girl's head, if you do so much as touch her, I will rip out your vocal cords so you cannot voice your pain while I break every bone in your body and force you to chew _ON BROKEN GLASS!_" Vanitas shouted at the top of his voice and released saix, he then turned his attention back to the match that had soon ended.

Saix and xigbar just stayed there shocked and stunned by the display of violence vanitas had showed.

Hades soon appeared out of a large cloud of smoke and greeted vanitas and his team.

"hey there's my favorite nobodies. So just to recap, you guys go out there and win the matches, then you get moved to the semi-finals, you crush whoever your fighting and then you get your three on one match with wonderboy. Got it?, good" hades said, he then snapped his finger's and disappeared in another cloud of smoke.

"hey, you guys think we could actually take on Hercules?" xigbar asked.

"of course we can take him, he's facing us three to one, he'll be outnumbered and overwhelmed, it will be easy." vanitas said. "now come on, we're up next."

the team then walked onto the arena, it was rather close cornered but for vanitas, that was a blessing, means his victims won't be able to run that far away.

Seven different variants of heartless appeared in front of them and vanitas, saix and xigbar were ready.

Vanitas charged forward at his enemies, hitting them head on before teleporting behind and slashing them in the back. Saix was shouting "begone!" at the top of his voice while attacking with his claymore. Xigbar was sniping his enemies from atop a vantage point that overlooked the arena.

* * *

Within a matter of minutes team vanitas had made short work of the remaining competition, now they reached the semi-finals. It was only fitting that his last opponents before facing hercules would be sora, riku and ria, they all had glares of anger pointed toward vanitas.

"guys, be careful" he heard ventus say.

"remember, no harm shall be done to the girl, let me deal with her." vanitas said to the idiots behind him.

The match began and saix immediately took off to face riku while xigbar went after ventus. vanitas and ria's keyblades had clashed together once more. He had to admit, she looked intoxication when she was angry.

"well hello, beautiful. How are we today?" vanitas asked in a sarcastic tone. "i can see by the look on your face, you must be exhausted, so i'll make you a deal, surrender and I will show mercy"

"get real, creep!" ria said as her foot had made impact with his chest, forcing him away from her. The two then proceeded to charge each other, their keyblades colliding multiple times and sparks flying from the impact of the metal of their weapons.

As ria was about to release a dark fireball, vanitas dodged out of the way, but he could feel the fireball still hitting his foot, it was then that he felt not heat, but cold. He looked at his leg and found it encased in ice. Ria grinned rather smugly.

"you think ice will stop me?" vanitas said as he punched into the ice with his free hand and his foot was once again free, he now teleported away from her line of sigh. She began looking around for him but he was gone, now was his chance to land the final blow.

"ria! Behind you!" sora shouted while deflecting xigbar's projectiles.

Ria then swung blindly at her backside and the teeth of her keyblade found its way into vanitas' face. Knocking him far into the opposite direction and passing through the force field of the arena, he was out of bounds which meant disqualification.

Sora jumped high into the air and knocked xigbar out while he was reloading, he then went to go assist riku who was also being assisted by ria, saix's claymore was thrown at riku and ria with full force, and gravity only made it stronger. But they were saved when ria used darkness to conjure a barrier around riku and herself.

"nice move" riku commented.

"i've been studying" ria bragged. Her barrier then dispelled and sora, riku and herself grouped up on saix, he went down in minutes.

They had now won the match and were going to fight in the finals against Hercules himself, however team vanitas was left to pickup what little pride they had left and return to the spectator area.

* * *

"vanitas' wounds and ice burns healed quickly thanks to his dark abilities, however the others were not so lucky, xigbar had sustained a broken arm and leg and now required assistance in order to walk, saix's legs and arms were fine but his face was covered in bruises and now his working eye had turned black and became swollen. Vanitas should have never brought these weaklings with him, they were the reason he lost, they slowed him down and now they were suffering for it, thats what happens when you get in vanitas' way.

"well, now what do we do?" xigbar asked, messing around with his new cast on his arm.

"return to the castle and inform the master of your failure" vanitas said.

"our failure? Don't you mean your failure, this was your idea after all." saix questioned, vanitas sweared he was only seconds away from cutting that idiot's tongue out.

"unlike you, i've prepared a plan b" vanitas said.

"ignore him, saix. We need to RTC now" xigbar said as saix helped him to stand.

"fine"

with that, they walked through a corridor of darkness and exited this world. However, vanitas stayed.

"what was that pathetic display!?" hades shouted while randomly popping in. "you said you were going to kill hercules, not get kicked off you ass by a bunch of pipsqueaks!"

"relax, I have a plan b, hercules will die." vanitas said.

"no, we had a deal, you were going to kill wonderboy in the arena, I wanted to see him fail at what he does best. You know what, the deal is off!, you can forget about turning your little crush into a mindless slave." hades said as he disappeared.

vanitas wasn't worried though, he remembered rule number thirty-four "combatants may call for back up"

* * *

Ria, sora and riku were now in the final round, facing Hercules himself. Sora was beyond excited, if he beat hercules then he would finally be seen as a true hero. Thousands of people were siting in the audience, cheering on.

"what in the name of Aphrodite is that!" someone yelled.

Sora looked above him and saw I gigantic ball of pure darkness. Just like what happened on the night the heartless invaded his island, which meant only one thing…

Sora, and the others proceeded to run out of the coliseum, while phil and hercules helped the crowd evacuate. Sora felt wrong for leaving them but they had to get out of here, this world was going to be swallowed whole by darkness.

The ground began to shake as the walls and statues of the coliseum began getting swallowed by the dark vortex in the sky. They were almost to the gummi ship, they could make it!.

"sora, help!" he heard ria say, she began floating into the air in the direction of the vortex, sora was able to catch her by her arm but then he began to get carried away too, riku ,managed to grab hold of sora's other hand and he himself held onto a pillar.

"just hand on!" sora shouted.

"im trying!" riku shouted back.

"sora, its pulling to hard!" ria said, she could feel her hands getting tired and losing their grip until…

"NO!" sora screamed as the black vortex took her away.


	21. Chapter 21 :The isles of destiny

She awoke face down on what felt like a beach. It was too dark to see, it must have been the middle of the night, but she could feel her hands laying comfortably on the sand, the waves gently crashing onto her lower body. She could taste the salt water on her tongue. After regaining consciousness, she began to violently cough out what little water remained in her lungs, the salt water also found its way into her eyes, making them sting and forcing her to squint. She got a little closer to the shore, the farther away from the water, the better.

The winds blew cold and her drenched body began to shiver.

"_this is just great_" ria thought. "_I'm wet, cold, hungry, and I have no idea where I am_".

She soon stumbled on what looked to be a recently extinguished bonfire, that meant there were people who lived here, but she wasn't sure they were friendly, now wasn't really time to think on that.

She put her hands in front of the wood and dark fire shot out of her hands, now she had a nice fire going. it was kinda weird, seeing as how the fire was a darkish blue, but at least it provided both light and heat.

"thank you, darkness" she said as she began warming herself up. She was completely drenched from head to toe, she began to remove and then ring out her clothes, then proceed to put them back on, they were still somewhat damp, but at least they weren't soaked anymore.

Now that her eyes had adjusted, she began to take in her surroundings.

It was still too dark to see, even with the light from the fire. But she knew that this must have been some sort of tropic isle, she could see coconut trees in the distance, and of course, she was defiantly on a beach that may have had recent visitors.

The wind blew harder and made ria shiver more, the cruel wind also snuffed out her fire.

Great, well there was no sense in making another one since the wood she was using had now been too burnt to feed any kind of fire.

When looking behind her, she could see what looked to be a massive tree fort and one of the trees seemed to hold a small bungalow, that might be a good place to rest until daybreak, then she would worry about finding her way back to sora and riku.

On the way up to the bungalow, she recalled what had happened in that last world she was visiting, there was some kind of vortex that had pulled her away, she tried to escape but it's hold was too strong. she hoped sora was alright.

* * *

Sora was defiantly not alright.

He had been pacing up and down the ship, mumbling to himself while riku just watched, sora didn't even seem to acknowledge his best friend's presence. He just kept pacing.

"sora? You okay, buddy?"

"huh!?, don't sneak up on me like that!" sora shouted at his friend. "i… im sorry, riku. Im just on edge."

"you're worried about ria?" riku asked.

"of course I am!, she could be anywhere!, she's probably wet, cold, hungry, and she probably has no idea where she is!"

"relax, man. We'll find her" riku said to try and encourage sora, it didn't really work. Riku was worried about her too, but it wasn't best to focus on that right now, he had to get sora to calm down. He had always seen sora as the happy-go-lucky guy, so to see him in such a state of distress was uncomforting.

"come on!, where's ria?" sora said, randomly typing away on the ships GPS. "stupid machine!" he then began mashing his fists on the keyboard in anger.

"easy, don't break it" riku said. "i understand you're upset but that doesn't mean you can take your anger out on the ship"

"your right..." sora said as he threw himself into the captains chair. "where do you think she might be?"

"hard to say, when our island got invaded, we got sucked into those vortexes. I wound up in hollow bastion" riku said.

"and I was in traverse town" sora said. "so, do we just randomly go from world to world? That will take us forever to find her."

"doesn't the ship have a DNA tracker?" riku asked.

"yeah, but I don't have any of ria's DNA, and even then, it still won't be able to pinpoint her exact location."

"well, we better start checking all these worlds, then" riku stated.

"every single one?" sora asked.

"lets try the closer ones, she couldn't have gotten that far"

"the nearest world will take… TWO FRICKEN DAYS!?" sora suddenly shouted. damn this slow moving hunk of junk!

* * *

Kairi had received a text message from selphie about some sort of dilemma that was happening on the island, kairi got on her small row boat and set out, ever since sora and riku left, kairi had been put in charge of the island, meaning she had to handle selphie, tidus and wakka at the same time since they were prone to arguments against each other.

She really didn't feel like going to the island anyway, it was too hot since it was the middle of summer, and she just wanted to sit in her room and read her books. But no, she has to play beach cop for two immature pre-teens, and… whatever the heck wakka was.

She finally arrived on the island and beached her row boat so it wouldn't be carried away by the waves.

She could hear the shouting of both tidus and selphie but oddly enough, they weren't yelling at each other, they seemed to be focusing their attention on the bungalow that was built in the large tree.

"get off our island!" tidus shouted to the bungalow.

"shut up!, you're gonna scare her!" selphie scolded him. "don't be afraid! We won't hurt you!" she yelled to the bungalow.

"whats going on, guys?"

"kairi!, about time you got here" tidus said "there's a tourist on our island!"

"a tourist?" kairi asked. It was true destiny islands was a tourist trap, but the island that kairi was on now was not even known to the tourists, since the island was on the west side of the main land and all the tourists mainly spent all their time on the east side, where all the shops and hotels were.

"kairi!, tell tidus to stop being such a bully to the new girl!" selphie shouted.

"buzz off, for all we know, this outsider could be dangerous, she might go invite her tourist friends and ruin our island, so you just sit back and let the big strong men handle it, selphie."

"oh, come on tidus, how much damage could one girl do?" selphie asked.

"can someone fill me in here?" kairi asked, becoming confused by their arguing.

"wakka was the first to see the outsider, tell her wakka." tidus said.

"ya, well I was going to go in to the bungalow to catch some z's, when all of a sudden, I find the girl sleeping in the beanbag chair I stashed up there." wakka informed.

"have you guys tried to talk to her?" kairi asked.

"well, yeah but she won't come down, I think she's shy." selphie said.

"Well, let me handle this then" kairi said, approaching the bungalow.

* * *

Ria wasn't scared of them, but they did seem to be hostile, well the short blond kid was. His words were actually kind of hurtful, ria originally thought they were a tribe or something, but she soon dismissed that when she saw their clothing, way to modern to be tribals. maybe they were just mean. She thought about going down there but soon turned that thought away, if they were this hostile already, then by the time she got down there they would probably go into a rage and attack her, she could take them of course, but they looked to be just kids, ria wasn't going to go beat up little kids.

her attention soon came to a teenage girl with short cherry red hair who was wearing a two piece pink bikini. _made sense, it was a beach after all._ she thought.

The red-head soon began climbing up, ria hoped she was friendly… when ria saw her face, she instantly glared. It was…_ her. _She quickly hid her mean glare, ria knew better, _don't judge people until you have actually met them_, she shouldn't have let her feelings change her judgment of others.

"hi there, im kairi, whats your name?" she asked as she stepped in.

"im ria, nice to meet you, kairi."

"ria, thats a pretty name." she complemented.

"thanks, your name's nice too" ria said in meek tone, that was her insecure shy voice.

"why are you up here?" kairi asked.

"i was going to come down and leave, once everyone stopped caring." ria said.

"well, don't worry, we mean no harm"

"kairi!, did you tell that tourist to get lost yet?" tidus shouted.

Ria gave a small chuckle to that. "yeah, you guys really mean no harm. When you have guests, you really know how to make them feel welcome"

"don't mind tidus, he's just a brat." kairi said. "come on down and hang out, you seem nice." she said.

_Why not?_ Ria thought, she and kairi then began to climb down to the beach together.

"hi new girl!, my name's selphie and its a pleasure to meet you" a little girl in a bright yellow sundress said as she hugged ria, she liked this one.

"that's tidus" kairi pointed out.

"yeah, whatever. Just stay outta my way, outsider" he scoffed.

"tidus, stop being such a jerk!" selphie yelled. And then turned her attention back to ria. "you're hair is so cool! Did you dye it?, can you do the same to mine!?."

"umm no, I was born with silver hair." ria said.

"hey, new girl. You play blitzball, ya?" wakka asked.

Ria looked at him, confusion obvious on her face. "what's a blitzball?"

"guys, leave her alone" kairi said.

Kairi studied the features of ria for awhile, most of her body was being covered by her black turtleneck and leggings. Her face however, was very visible. Ria must have been very pale, her face was as white as snow, which allowed her crimson red eyes to be a more apparent feature. this girl was interesting, and kairi liked it when interesting people came into her life, she hoped her and ria would become good friends.

* * *

Sora was frantically searching his room, throwing items and clothing from his drawers, checking under his bed. Riku had no idea what sora was looking for, or why it mattered so much that sora needed this item right now.

"come on, where is it?" he asked himself while checking every inch of his room.

"what are you looking for?" riku asked.

"my mirror" he responded.

"whats so special about a mirror?"

"just shut up and help me find it!" sora said.

"is it like a little silver hand mirror?" riku asked.

"yeah, why?"

"i saw ria take a mirror in her room" riku said, he would have said something sooner if he actually cared, after all, it was just a hand mirror, what was so special about that?.

Sora immediately dashed for ria's room, and found the mirror on her bed, along with that book about the darkness. He took the mirror and gazed into it.

"show me ria" he said firmly. The mirror glowed green and there he saw her, she was leaning against a bent palm tree with some other girl on what looked to be a beach, upon closer inspection, sora could identify the other girl as kairi, ria was on destiny island!. Sora then ran to the GPS and set the new travel destination to the islands… home.

* * *

The sun was setting and kairi and ria were leaning against a bent tree with star shaped fruit hanging from it, the two were just exchanging pleasantries, telling each other about their lives (although, ria left out parts about sora and the keyblade).

"so, how did you get on this island?" kairi asked.

"to be honest, I don't know, I just woke up on the beach in the middle of the night."

"do you live anywhere near here?, are you vacationing on the main land?" she asked.

Ria just shook her head.

"so, where do you live?" kairi asked.

"well, compared to your home, its like a different world"

kairi looked at ria, trying to comprehend that somewhat cryptic sentence.

The sun was almost down, night was about to fall.

"well, I guess I have to call it a day" kairi said, standing up from the tree they were leaning against.

"where are you going to be sleeping?" she asked.

"i… don't know" ria said. She could camp out in that bungalow again, if nobody would yell death threats at her.

"there's a hotel on the mainland." kairi said.

"i don't have any munny"

kairi felt bad for her, ria probably had so much on her mind right now, kairi knew the way ria felt, randomly waking up in some odd place, surrounded by strangers, having no idea how to find her way home.

"maybe, you could bunk with me?" kairi suggested.

Ria looked up at kairi, surprised that she would suggest something like that, they only met each other five hours ago.

"are you sure?, i'd hate to be a burden" ria said.

"it's no trouble, come on" kairi said pulling ria towards the row boat.

They soon reached the mainland by the time the moon had risen. Ria could understand why kairi and the others were so protective of their island. The beach on the mainland was disgustingly littered with trash.

"why is this beach so dirty?" ria asked.

"oh, that's because of the tourists, destiny island is a popular attraction, so a lot of people come here for vacation and since their so busy partying and having a good time they don't clean up after themselves."

"that's horrible"

"don't worry about it, it'll all be cleaned up tomorrow." kairi said. She then began to lead ria to her home.

They arrived at her house and kairi had pulled out her house key and unlocked the door, then the two stepped into the house.

ria liked kairi's place, it looked rather modern and nice, the walls were clean, the furniture was new, it was a dramatic difference when compared to ria's standards. It was funny, if kairi was some kind of princess then where's the castle?

"kairi?, is that you?" a man called out from the kitchen. Who soon came to the living room.

He was rather tall and a little chubby, he was wearing a nice black suit and around him was a sash that said "mayor" in bold letters. Judging by his appearance, it was likely that this was the mayor of destiny island.

"who's this, kairi?" he asked.

"this is ria, she's a friend from school, her parents are on a business trip and she needs a place to stay for the night until her brother can come pick her up" kairi introduced, it was an obvious lie but what was kairi supposed to say? _"this is some random homeless stranger who I just met __and the only reason im bringing her home is because I feel bad of her__" _he seemed to believe kairi's little lie.

they soon went to kairi's actual room after a few moments.

Kairi's room was all pink, pink walls, pink ceiling. It wasn't a preferred color for ria but it was still nice. She had a nice queen sized bed, large flat screen tv, a huge wardrobe with a full body mirror. Now ria was really starting to believe the whole princess thing.

"whoa, your dad is loaded" she said as she fell into kairi's double bed, the sheets were incredibly comfortable. Ria even felt a quiet yawn escape her.

"he's not really my dad" kairi said.

"excuse me?" ria said in a tired voice.

"he adopted me when I first came to this island."

"well, whats wrong with being adopted?" ria asked.

"nothing, it's just… I miss my real parents"

"yeah, I know how you feel, i've never even seen my parents" ria said.

"what do you mean?" kairi asked.

"my mother… isn't here anymore and i've never known my father."

"well your obviously too well dressed to be living on the streets, who took care of you?"

"my guardian..." ria said with distaste in her voice. "she… she was never cruel but she wasn't kind either, she just ignored me more and more as I got older."

"that's terrible" kairi said. "where is this woman?"

"i don't know, and I don't care" ria said.

"maybe we should change the subject" kairi said.

"okay… so how long have you been a keyblade wielder?" ria asked suddenly, how was she supposed to know that!?.

"i… I don't know what your talking about" kairi said.

"then why is there a keyblade leaning against your wall?" ria asked casually as she layed down on kairi's bed.

Kairi looked behind her and gasped. She forgot to hide that thing back in her closet.

"it's okay kairi, I've got one too" ria said, summoning her keyblade to her hand.

Kairi was amazed at the sight of ria's keyblade, it was beautiful, don't get kairi wrong, her keyblade was pretty too, but it looked like a child's toy sometimes. Kairi went to go pick up her keyblade since she didn't know how to summon it, sora was going to teach her but then he had to go off and leave kairi all alone.

She didn't actually pick it up, she held her hand out to it, hoping she could actually summon it this time.

"keyblade, I… command you to come to me!" she shouted at the weapon, nothing happened.

Ria just watched her.

"summon keyblade!" she said, still not working.

"i don't think it works like that" ria said.

"well you can do it, how do you do it?" kairi asked.

"i… don't know, I just hold out my hand and it comes to me." ria said.

She then demonstrated. Her hand began to glow and instead of lost memory coming to her kairi's keyblade appeared in ria's hand instead, lost memory was leaning against kairi's bed.

"hey, how did you do that?" kairi asked.

"like I said, I don't know. Maybe it's all in the wrist?." ria said. "well what I do know or actually… what i've read is that keyblades don't really come when you want them, they come when you need them. Maybe your keyblade doesn't think you need it right now." she said, observing kairi's weapon.

The Keyblade was round and curvaceous to the point of appearing harmless. One side of the hilt was formed in the shape of a breaking ocean wave, while the other was formed into a beige vine of sand that wrapped around the shaft, which was colored to resemble a sunset. The vine connects to a bouquet of colorful flowers, which form the teeth of the Keyblade and entwined to outline a heart. A red silken keychain connected the hilt to some odd star shaped fruit charm, similar to what she saw on that tree back on the island. _(Ria doesn't know what the paopu fruit are yet) _this weapon did look rather girly and harmless, not really something ria would use. But the odd thing was, if this was kairi's keyblade then why did it come to ria?, she had her own which was probably a lot better then kairi's.

ria returned it back to kairi and took her keyblade back into her hands, she liked lost memory a lot more anyway and it wouldn't be nice to take it from kairi

"what I fail to understand is how come your keyblade came to you when you obviously didn't need it?" kairi asked.

"well, I've got a lot of dangerous little black things that want to take my heart, I'm being stalked by a cult of black coated freaks, I grew up in a broken home, people made fun of me just because I'm an albino, I got separated from my friends and to top it all off, I'm a ticking time bomb of darkness, so there are plenty of reasons for me to need my keyblade!" ria said. Kairi was looking at her with a somewhat saddened expression, it was then ria realized that she just shouted all of that right in kairi's face. "sorry, it was wrong for me to snap at you like that" she quickly apologized.

"don't be, its my fault, I didn't know you were dealing with so much" kairi said "you got separated?"

"yeah, me, sora and riku"

"you know sora!?" kairi asked in a loud tone.

"yeah, I knew you too, he talks about you a lot, every conversation somehow seems to be all about you and I can see why, I mean look at you, your pretty, friendly and you have amazing hair and… and then there's me… what was I even thinking? What kind of guy would want some loser like me when he's got someone like you, your… perfect, and im not, you have him wrapped around your finger, he's dedicated to you." ria trailed off.

"what do you mean?" kairi asked.

"he goes off searching all those worlds, fighting the heartless, sacrificing himself just for you, to keep you safe… that's something most girls dream of, but you, your living that dream, your a princess of heart, a soul filled with pure light, I'm just some albino girl with abandonment issues, you have someone who really cares about you, and I have… nobody" ria sighed.

Kairi gazed at ria for what seemed like hours, contemplating the words that ria had said to her. It was odd, kairi didn't really know if it was right to feel bad for ria.

"again, im sorry for saying all this, I just really needed to vent all that out, i've been holding all of my feelings in for so long, it feels good to just let them all out, if I hurt you in any way, I'm sorry."

"maybe we should just get ready for bed" kairi suggested.

* * *

Vanitas walked into the castle that never was, with a smile of pride on his face, he had returned from his mission and now he was going to his master's quarters to receive the praise and respect he finally deserved. He approached the large white door that led to his master's quarters and entered, he didn't need to waste his time knocking, master xehanort was expecting him.

There he saw his master, sitting on a large white chair, staring into the fireplace that was holding a blue flame.

"master xehanort, i've returned." he said proudly.

"so you have, we have much to discuss…" he said, standing up from his chair and turning to face vanitas.

"what's their to discuss? I've done as you asked" vanitas said said.

He soon felt the cold leather of his master's white glove as it came into rapid contact with his face, the force from xehanort's blow was so strong that vanitas tumbled to the floor, he was about to get up until his master's boot slammed onto the side of his face and held him down.

"you failed me, I give you a simple task to keep you busy, and you fail me. I told you to watch and protect the girl without being seen, yet you decide to take the two of the strongest members of the organization and enter yourselves in some barbaric gladiator game _AGAINST THE VERY PERSON I TOLD YOU TO PROTECT!, _not only that, but you destroyed the entire world _WHILE THE GIRL WAS STILL ON IT!,_ you have ruined my entire plan."

"what do you mean?" he said from under his master's boot.

"i have waited fifteen years for that girl's darkness to grow into the appropriate age, _FIFTEEN YEARS I HAVE WAITED FOR MY SECOND CHANCE TO FORGE THE __**X-**__BLADE, AND YOU SENT ONE OF THE KEY COMPONENTS INTO A DARK VORTEX, YOU'VE KILLED __ONE OF__ THE MOST IMPORTANT PART__S__ OF MY PLAN!" _

"she's must be still alive, her darkness would have protected her..."

"her darkness is still infantile, even if she survived, she is probably far from our reach." xehanort said.

"can't you just go fill some other person's heart with pure darkness instead?"

"_oh of course, let me just abduct some little __child__ away from __their__ family and implant pure darkness inside __their__ heart, then i'll just have to wait FOR FIFTEEN MORE YEARS UNTIL __THEIR__ DARKNESS MATURES INTO SOMETHING THAT CAN BE CONTROLLED!, OH DON'T WORRY VANITAS, YOU DON'T NEED TO HELP, JUST SIT THERE AND BE THE USELESS PATHETIC WEAKLING YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN!" _xehanort shouted. He then sighed, began to rub his temples and tried to regain his composure. "even if I find another pure darkness, I will still have to find a pure light to counteract that darkness. two opponents who must be evenly matched in every aspect, it is almost impossible to find two who are so different yet so similar"

"give me a chance to redeem myself then, if she is alive then i'll find her, I won't fail this time." vanitas said.

"stop flapping your tongue before I cut it out, boy. You are an abomination beyond hope of salvation. what stops me from putting an end to you right now, vanitas?. Are you smart enough to know the only reason why you are still breathing?" he said, summoning his dark keyblade.

"you need me" vanitas said "you've always needed me"

"correct" xehanort said, dispelling his keyblade and removing his boot from vanitas' head. "i'm giving you one last chance to redeem yourself, send the unversed into all the worlds you can, find the girl, or her corpse." xehanort then returned to his chair and returned his gaze onto the fireplace.

Vanitas said nothing as he walked out of his master's quarters.

Xehanort sighed as he watched the blue flames feed off of the wood in the fireplace. He could not believe vanitas' rash and foolish decisions, he should have expected it though, vanitas was always unpredictable, but that was to be expected from a being who is pure darkness, as darkness in its very nature is masterless and free, it can be manipulated but never truly controlled.

"lord Xehanort, may I steal a moment of your time?" said vexen, randomly interrupting his thoughts.

"make it brief, I am in no mood for lengthy conversation." he said.

"it is no conversation, my lord. It is a demonstration." vexen said as xehanort removed himself from his chair.

"you have my attention" he said.

"come inside, my daughter" vexen said to a small figure hiding in the doorway.

In walked the project that vexen had been working on so diligently, an exact replica of ria. Xehanort was impressed, it looked just like the girl, it was even wearing her clothes.

"i am replica number 45, model R.I.A., my purpose is to serve the organization in any way possible, I was created for this very reason and I will die for this very reason." the replica said.

"impressive. you've exceeded my expectations, vexen" xehanort said.

"of course I have, this is what happens when I am given a task that fits my talents" he stated. "this particular model is a vast improvement when compared to my other experiments, she is blindly obedient to our cause and has no desire to replace the original ria, she knows her purpose, don't you my dear." he said as he stroked the replica's hair. Xehanort found vexen's attachment with the replica to be rather disturbing.

"you seem rather attached" xehanort stated.

"of course, she is one of my finest creations, I see her less as my experiment and more as my actual daughter."

"very well, good work vexen, I shall notify you when it is time to utilize its-"

"her" vexen corrected.

"her… abilities" with that the replica and vexen exited the room, leaving xehanort alone once more.

Vexen walked into his lab with anger in his footsteps.

"that fool of a man, who is he to judge me? So what if I have developed a connection with my creation? Doing otherwise is like a father who takes joy in watching his children cry, If he was able to do what I am able to do, he'd feel the exact same way!"

"have I failed you, father?" she asked. Vexen soon turned his head to his creation.

"no of course not, my dear" he said as he took the replica into his arms. "he just doesn't understand yet, but we will make him understand, once you destroy your original, then he will see you for what you truly are, he may even fear you."

"then I will find my original, I will crush her, I will make her beg for the mercy of death, and then I will be seen as the superior" the replica stated.

"of course you will. but for now, let us work on giving you a proper means of achieving that goal."


	22. Chapter 22 :Xari

"_when you walk away, you don't hear me say… please, oh baby!, don't go. Simple and clean is the way that your making me feel tonight, it's hard to let it go."_

kairi stood outside her bathroom as she listened to ria singing in the shower. She had to admit, ria had a beautiful voice, she could easily become a musical sensation if she wanted. kairi yawned while waiting for ria to finish. she didn't get much sleep last night, her mind had been so occupied trying to process and find sense in ria's words, particularly about sora and the little… conversation they had last night, kairi still didn't know why she never felt bad for ria, maybe they just didn't know each other well enough, or maybe it was something else.

Kairi jumped in surprise when ria opened the door to the bathroom and exited, her hair was dripping with water and she was wearing nothing but a towel.

"oh, im sorry, did I keep you waiting?" ria asked.

"no, it's fine." kairi said. "i washed your clothes for you, they should be dry now"

"thanks" she said, walking to the laundry room. she had to admit, she liked kairi, she had done so much for ria than most people ever did in her entire life, they even shared the same bed yet neither of them minded, this left ria feeling bad about saying all those things to her, she knew kairi was kept awake all night because of their conversation, maybe she would have gotten a better sleep if ria had never showed up. Now wasn't the time to think about that though. in a few more minutes, ria would be out of kairi's hair and off to go find her way back to sora and riku, she wondered how she would be able to do that, the people of this world probably don't know how to contact people from other worlds.

Ria wished she had her book with her, it did contain diagrams and notes on how to summon portals to other worlds, she knew she should have learned how to do that instead of that stupid shield spell.

She soon found her clothes, entirely free of sand, even the leather of her boots looked to be polished. With her clothes returned, she went into kairi's room and began to dress herself. Kairi soon entered fully clothed.

Her outfit mainly contained a pink strapless mini-dress made up of three zippers (two appeared to be just decorative) as well as a white halter top underneath her mini-dress with a black hood. She also sported three bracelets on her left wrist, a black belt reminiscent of suspenders with a note book shaped bag attachment, and lilac sneakers. Personally, ria wouldn't be caught dead wearing that, but it looked good on kairi. As stated before, ria was not a fan of pink.

* * *

Vanitas smashed the annoying alarm clock that had ruined his peaceful slumber, the infernal sound of the clock reminded vanitas that he had a job to do, he now had to send the unversed and himself into any world he could, it would not be easy. Creating unversed meant that vanitas had to sacrifice a tiny part of his power so the small creature could function, it wasn't a big subtraction but it was still a part of his strength that he would not have when he needed it.

His train of thought was ruined when he heard a knock on his door. vanitas groaned in annoyance, the 'do not disturb or you will be murdered' sigh was there for a reason.

"a pleasant morning to you, vanitas" said vexen, entering without permission.

"that's lord vanitas. what do you want?" he said in an annoyed tone.

"i understand master xehanort has instructed you to commence a search for the girl, correct?"

"why do you ask?" vanitas glared, he didn't like when people got in his business.

"i was wondering if you would to have Xari join you on your search" he said.

"who?" vanitas asked. Then in walked the replica of ria.

"Xari, my daughter" vexen said, referring to the replica.

"you named it?" he asked.

"well, of course. It seemed cruel to call her replica all the time, so I gave her a little name, what do you think?"

"i think you're the biggest moron in this entire organization" vanitas spat. "you should know the first thing about owning a slave, do not give it a name, you'll grow attached. you see that… _thing_ as a real person, it isn't. You said it yourself, it's a puppet, a toy to be used, broken, then thrown away."

"i beg to differ, master vanitas." the replica said. "let me follow you, I will show you that I am more than a simple replica, I can prove that I am better that my original…"

vanitas smacked the replica in the face with the back of his hand, the replica gasped and fell onto the floor, it covered the bruise with its hand, as if it was actually in pain.

"don't you dare compare yourself to her!, you are nothing!… no wait, you are something, there is a word that describes you perfectly, what was that word?..." he said, instantly regaining his cool. "ooh yeah… fake!, And that's all you'll ever be. You are a fake, an inaccurate and flawed copy of a person who is far more superior that _you_ could ever hope to be, a cheap ripoff of the original, do us all a favor and erase yourself from existence, this world and all other worlds have no place for useless fakes like you" vanitas said, walking out of his room and leaving for his mission.

Vexen helped lift his creation off of the floor, he'd get even with vanitas for this, keyblade pupil or not, nobody hurts vexen's daughter and walks away. "are you alright, my dear Xari"

"father, is he right? Am I a useless fake?, a cheap knock off that was created for the sole purpose of being used?" she said.

"no, you are not a knock off, you are a remastered edition, an improvement. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise" vexen said as he and xari returned to his lab.

Vanitas walked through the halls of the castle, the other members of the organization just gave him passing glances and then looked away, that didn't bother vanitas, they looked away from him because they were afraid of him, they knew he was strong, and their fear of him was justified in every way.

"yo, vanitas, you wanna hear this new song i've been working on?" one of the fools got in his way, he didn't bother learning any of their names, its not like they were important enough.

"is there some reason you are talking to me?" vanitas asked.

"dude, it's me, Demyx." he said.

"oh, you're the loud mouthed idiot who kept playing that guitar til six in the morning"

"actually, it's called a sitar, the difference is..." he said. Vanitas just glared. "i…um, i'm sorry for keeping you up, but you know what they say, music is..."

"i could care less, get out of my way" vanitas said, shoving demyx.

"fine!, I was only trying to be nice!… jerk"

"what did you say?" vanitas stopped.

"um, I said!, um good luck on your mission!"

"i don't need luck, slows me down" vanitas said.

As soon as vanitas left the hall, larxene spoke.

"that brat thinks he's so tough, maybe we should teach him a lesson."

"that sounds like the worst idea i've ever heard" said Xigbar. "besides, the old man would kill us if we put a hand on him"

_who did that old __man __think he was_, thought Larxene. She liked it better when Xemnas was running things, everyone was laid back and casual, but now everyone is on edge, trying to track down some crazed sixteen-year old. Larxene wondered what would happen if she took that brat hostage, then Xehanort wouldn't be able to harm larxene, and if she played her cards right, she could become the new leader of the organization, then (with her amazing guidance) the organization could become the rulers of all worlds!.

Vanitas kept walking through those flat, dull grey halls until he found the exit, it was there master xehanort stood.

"remember, just make sure she's alive, do not talk to anybody, do not let anybody see you. If you find her, then return immediately, do not let her see you." xehanort said.

Vanitas nodded and left for his mission.

Xehanort watched him leave, he admitted, vanitas was brash, but he still followed orders most of the time.

"its a shame you have to send that fool to do your work" said vexen, who was behind xehanort.

"excuse me?" xehanort said.

"if you had asked for my help in locating the girl, we would already have her." he said with a prideful smile.

"is that so?" xehanort asked. "and how would you have done that?"

"you seem to forget that the replica is made from her data, I used that data to find her location in a matter of seconds"

"well, where is she? Is she alive?" xehanort asked.

"i could tell you, but you put more trust in that brute of yours instead of me. I was one of radiant garden's most advanced scientists, I did things there that even you could barely comprehend." Vexen said.

Xehanort chuckled. "normally, I'd slit your throat for saying something like that, but I am in no mood for it. so go, play your little games, vexen, just be sure they don't interfere with mine."

"of course, my lord" vexen said as xehanort walked away.

"you can come out now, xari. He's gone"

"is now my time, father?" she asked.

"yes, now we shall show them what you can really do." vexen said to the replica.

Little did they know that the entire conversation was being observed by a small black raven. The raven flew off to return to its mistress and inform her. The bird rested on the shoulder of maleficent, who was hiding in an alleyway underneath the castle that never was. pete was standing by her side, listening to the bird's squawking, he didn't really know if maleficent could actually understand it.

"interesting" maleficent said. "it seems that xehanort's organization is rather unorganized. What interests me though is why this child is so important to him, he seems to go to great lengths to ensure her safety"

"gee, I dunno, maybe she's his kid, or somethin' like that?" pete said.

"impossible, xehanort had no children, and the girl looks nothing like him. No, this child is much more." maleficent said.

"what is she then?" pete asked.

"a conduit" maleficent stated. "her heart's light has been removed at an early age, and in its place lies pure darkness."

"so… like a reverse princess of light?"

"exactly, darkness in it's purist form, a living connection to the realm of darkness itself."

"and those who are connected to the realm of darkness..." pete started.

"…are connected to kingdom hearts!" maleficent said with joy.

* * *

Sora and riku had finally arrived at destiny island, it was nice to be home. Sora breathed in the cool sea air, saw the waves crashing against the beach, riku didn't really seem all that glad to be back though.

Sora wasn't on the actual islands, he was on the mainland, not to far from his house, he had to be careful, he knew his mother had been worried for him, since most of the buildings had missing posters with sora's face on them. Sora felt horrible for making his mother worry like this, but he knew she would never understand. he told her every detail of his past journeys, the worlds he saw, the people he met, the dangers he defeated. He even showed her his keyblade but she still didn't believe him, she called it a magic trick when he summoned his weapon _out of thin air!._

Sora sighed, now wasn't the time to worry about mom. he had to find ria… before someone else did.

* * *

Ria and kairi were siting on the dock on the islands, watching the waves, they were mainly going over kairi's book, ria thought it was good but it still needed improvement.

Eventually ria parted from kairi for awhile, she just paced about and explored the island, eventually she found a secret cave hidden behind a waterfall. This island was amazing!, ria could spend hours walking through it. She walked her way into the cave, the first thing she noticed were the roots that hung from the top, no doubt they came from the many trees the island had, as she ventured deeper into the cave, she found many different drawings that were carved into the cave's walls, they weren't high art but they still seemed really cool, maybe she should draw something, most of the rocks were full of other peoples work, but she was sure she'd find a spot if she looked around.

She went deeper into the cave and discovered some large wooden door, or at least she thought it was a door, to the right of the door was a spot that was free for ria to draw something, she stopped dead in her tracks due to a certain someone's drawing.

It was both sora and kairi's faces, staring back at each other… smiling. In the drawing, they both seem to be sharing something, she thought it might be food or something, since they seem to be going towards they're mouths, ria sighed and rubbed her hand along the stone, she should have accepted this by now, but she didn't. She failed to understand that sora cared about kairi, they had been friends for years, and he only knew ria for a week.

"this world is connected…" she heard from behind her.

"who's there!" she turned and summoned her keyblade. She saw someone wearing a brown tattered robe, she knew it wasn't the organization of black hooded freaks, they had a signature wardrobe and you don't change that so easily.

"who are you?" ria asked.

"this world is connected…" the figure repeated.

"what do you mean?" she asked.

"tied to the darkness… soon to be completely eclipsed, much like you will…"

"what are you talking about?, are you saying im weak? That I can't control my power?" ria said in anger. She noticed the veins in her hand turn black.

"darkness can never be controlled or commanded. in the end, all hearts are engulfed in the very power they claim to control. This is the fate of all darkness wielders, you cannot control your power, because you cannot understand your power."

"well you'll see, I'm gonna go and learn it!"

"a meaningless effort… one who knows nothing can understand nothing"

she turned her head away to look at her hands black veins, which had disappeared since she had calmed down, when she turned her head back, the figure was gone.

"help!" ria heard a scream coming from the exit of the cave.

"kairi?" she ran out to find kairi fallen in the sand, there was a woman looking down on her, pressing a keyblade to her neck.

"leave her alone!" ria shouted, getting the attacker's attention. When the attacker turned to face ria, she was shocked.

"what the…" ria said.

"surprised?, you should be" the attacker said.

her opponent was her, not actually her but a person who looked just like her, she matched everything ria knew about herself perfectly. the slender frame, the silver hair, albinism, her keyblade was also exactly the same.

"who… who are you?" ria asked.

"I'm you" she said simply.

"no, I'm me. Now tell me who you are!" ria pointed her keyblade in anger.

The lookalike crossed her arms and scoffed, it was then ria noticed that this person was also wearing the same clothes as her.

"i am replica number 45, model R.I.A, but you can call me Xari. I am a replica of you, created by my father, Vexen, who the forth member of organization XIII."

"so you're a fake me?" ria asked.

"no" the replica said with disgust in her voice. "i am the remastered edition of you, an improvement. your replacement" ria just looked at her with confusion. "allow me to explain, think of this as a gigantic school play, you're an actor and I am your understudy, when the actor is unable to go on with the show, the understudy takes her place. Do you understand now?"

"ria!" they both turned their heads to see sora and riku on the docks, keyblades drawn.

"what?, which one is the real one?" sora asked.

"she is" the replica (or better known as Xari) pointed to ria.

"then what are you?" sora asked.

"i am…"

"a fake!" riku yelled. "a replica made by the organization!"

"i didn't know the organization relied so strongly on useless copies!" sora insulted. Trying to provoke the replica.

"how dare you!" Xari yelled. She was about to swing at sora but her keyblade hit ria's instead.

"you're my fake, so you're my fight" ria said, getting in the way of the attack.

"fine" Xari jumped back and went into the same stance as ria. "bring it, sister!"

sora wanted to help but riku stopped him, it was as ria said, this was her fight.

The two both charged at each other and swung left and right, all attacks were ether blocked or deflected and their keyblades clashed constantly.

"hmm, we seem to be evenly matched" Xari said.

"i guess we are, but can you do this?" ria jumped back and threw a dark fire ball from her hand, it hit the replica in the center and caused her to fall on her back. Ria approached Xari as she began fumbling backwards. "now ria, sweetheart, lets be reasonable about all this" Xari said. "i didn't want to do this but you're forcing me to play dirty" she said as she dug her hands in the sand and threw it at ria.

"ahh!, my eyes!" she shouted covering her face, Xari saw her opening and thrusted her kayblade right into ria. Ria made a squel of pain and then… silence. The weapon went completely through her and her body fell, the sand around her body turned crimson as the blood leaked out.

riku and kairi were paralyzed by the scene, sora however, was bursting with rage, he ran right for the replica and charged head on.

"you killed her!, why! She didn't do anything to you!" sora shouted as he attacked the replica.

"i had too, now I will be seen as the stronger one, the organization will respect me, they will fear me."

"they can't if you're dead!" he yelled. sora hit the replica right in the face with the blunt end of his keyblade, he thought he saw a tooth fly out.

The replica was on the ground, before sora destroyed this miserable fake, he took one last look at ria, she was still motionless… she was gone, or.. was she? Sora saw her fingers twitching, a shocked expression soon came to his face when he saw ria's arms move, he heard her frantically breathing, and then he saw her face.

Her entire face's veins were all black, her eyes were a burning bright gold and she had a glare of pure hatred, she slowly got up to her feet and pulled the keyblade out of her own body like it was just a splinter. She then ran at lightning speed and grabbed Xari by the neck, lifting her feet high off of the ground, the replica was screaming in fear the entire time.

"h-how are you alive!? I killed you! You're supposed to be dead!" the replica screamed.

Ria made a fierce growl that no human was capable was producing, like the growl of a lion before it attacks. Ria held her free hand in the air and black smoke began pouring through it. Sora and riku were both amazed and terrified, they could also she the fear in the replica as ria slowly brought her hand to it's face.

Xari tried with all her might to keep ria's hand away but her struggle was in vein, she then began to beg

"no, no please!, I'm sorry!, let me go and I'll never bother you again, no, PLEASE NO!" she screamed as Ria's hand met Xari's face, the replica began screaming incredibly loud as it's own veins turned black and it's entire body began burning from the inside!.

"ria'! Stop!" sora shouted to her. She wasn't listening. Sora had to do something, he held his keyblade and swung at the back of ria's head, knocking her out, sora felt horrible for hurting her, but he had too, even though sora was going to kill the replica, he wasn't going to make it suffer like she was.

The replica tried as hard as she could to move her body but it was still experiencing the excruciating pain from the attack, Xari's veins remained black the entire time.

Just then a dark portal opened and through it walked a member of the organization, riku recognized him as vexen, the creator of the replica. He looked incredibly shocked, like a father who comes home to find his children being beaten.

He quickly picked up the replica and glared at sora. He then walked back into the portal with the replica his arms.

"I'm sorry, father…" Xari said.

"you have nothing to be sorry for, you'll be alright."

the portal then disappeared.

Now sora, riku and kairi were left alone, watching ria's unconscious form.

"is she?…" kairi asked.

"she's alive" riku said. Her black veins faded away.

"what was that riku?" sora asked.

"the darkness in her heart, it revived her, brought her back to life, but in doing so, it gained complete control of her. It happened to me once too" riku stated. "don't worry, now she's fine, she'll wake up in a few hours," he assured.

"whats going on here?" they turned around to see sora's mother and riku's father standing on the docks, it looked as if they only just arrived. The moment they set foot on the beach, all keyblades had disappeared.

"sora, where have you been!, shame on you for making your mother worry like that!" she said as she grabbed him by the ear. "you are coming home with me, say goodbye to the sunlight because you'll never see it again!"

"but mom!" sora whined.

After sora left the island, kairi and riku soon did the same, with riku carrying ria over his shoulder, riku would watch over her while she slept, and if anything was going to happen, he'd know how to deal with it.

* * *

From atop a palm tree stood vanitas, snacking on a bag of popcorn. That was one impressive fight, his favorite part had to be when ria made the replica scream like a two-year old. Vanitas had completed his mission, the girl was found, more importantly, she was alive. Vanitas would now return to his master and inform him on the little event that took place.

"say goodbye to your daughter, Vexen. Now the only thing she'll be good for will be target practice."


	23. Chapter 23 :Acceptance of darkness

Ria slowly regained consciousness after riku had placed her on his bed. She felt incredibly light headed and woozy, every part of her body felt sore and it was difficult to move.

"easy, don't be so quick to get up, give your body some time to regain itself" riku said, coming into her field of view.

"riku? What happened?" she asked.

"you kinda… died"

ria's eyes shot open in shock, she died? But how was that possible? She was still breathing, she could still feel.

"when the replica killed you, your darkness reacted, it revived you but also gained complete control of your heart, if sora didn't stop you then you would have been overcome by the darkness." he stated.

"the darkness…" she said.

"i know how you feel, ria. the same thing happened to me once, you'll be fine" riku said.

ria sighed.

"did I kill her?" she asked.

"the replica? No, she got away"

"good. So now what?" she asked.

"now you rest, wait until you can move again"

she sighed and began to close her eyes, waiting for sleep to take her.

* * *

Sora was in his room, laying on his bed. He still couldn't believe that after everything he had told his mother, she still didn't believe him, but now wasn't the time to focus on that. He was worried about ria, he saw first hand what the darkness had done to her, he remembered when darkness overcame him once too, whenever he was forced into anti-form, as he called it. Ever since then, sora had always held a hidden fear of anything that remotely resembled what happened to him, it was one of the reasons he wanted to protect ria from darkness… it was also why he was somewhat afraid of her. He was kind of perplexed as to how the organization was able to make complete copies of people, it sounded like something that could only happen in a video game, but oddly, It did feel familiar to fight the replica, he felt like he had fought one of those before, yet he couldn't really place his finger on it.

* * *

Riku walked back into his room, ria had just woken up and stretched while yawning.

"feeling better?" he asked.

"a little… my head still hurts"

he let her be and grabbed a random book off of his shelf. His father soon came into his room, ria said nothing and just observed him, he seemed to be fairly interested in her.

He had short black hair and blue eyes, he looked almost nothing like his son.

"um… hi there." ria said.

"hello. forgive me for saying this but you look a lot like my wife" riku's father said.

"really?" she asked.

"yes, you're from another world, aren't you?"

"yes, why?" she said. He then saw the locket that she had hidden under her turtleneck, he took it.

"hey, that's mine!" she shouted. He looked at the locket and gasped in shock.

"dad, what are you doing?" riku asked.

"i remember this, I made this for your mother a long time ago" he said returning it to ria.

"you knew my mother?" ria said.

"yes, I did, i made her that locket… before I asked her to marry me"

"marry?" riku asked in shock.

"but that means…"

"i'm your father… ria" he knew her name. so that ment riku and ria were also brother and sister.

After a small explanation, she began asking questions about her mother, her father answered them all, and now ria knew the truth… she wasn't happy.

* * *

Vexen was in his lab running a few tests on Xari, she had suffered very heavy damage, but it was nothing he couldn't fix, she just needed a few advancements and then she'd be able to get back to working properly. She could still walk and run, but combat and fast paced movement seemed to cause her great joint pains, whatever happened to her must have been devastating.

"i see you've returned from your little trip" said Xehanort who had silently entered the lab.

"good evening, lord xehanort, what may I do for you?" vexen said.

"vanitas told me of your replica's little adventure, and what happened to her."

"you are not angry with me, are you?" vexen said.

"angry?, of course not. I'm here to thank you. thanks to the replica, ria has successfully allowed the darkness into her heart. you may not know this but you have done an incredible service for me."

"is that so?" vexen asked.

"yes. unfortunately, we still have a problem." xehanort said.

"is that so?" vexen repeated.

"at no point, did I tell you or the replica to cause harm to the girl, you have disobeyed me, and you shall both be punished." xehanort said as he quietly summoned his keyblade from behind his back. He swung it at vexen, who quickly blocked the attack with his shield and then bashed xehanort, causing him to fall to the ground, vanitas then appeared out of nowhere and slashed the shield in half with his keyblade and then kicked vexen onto the ground. Xari was watching the whole time.

Vanitas turned to Xari and smiled wickedly.

Xehanort got onto his feet. "kill the replica, we have no use for it anymore" he said.

"with pleasure" vanitas said as he walked closer to the replica, he was about to slash at her until he was randomly frozen solid by vexen.

"go Xari!, RUN!" he shouted while opening a corridor of darkness behind her, she ran threw it and vanished.

Xehanort let the replica escape, he didn't need to waste time tracking down a useless copy.

"lexaeus!" xehanort called, lexeaus soon entered.

"you called, lord xehanort?"

"escort our friend vexen to the dungeon" he said while walking away. "oh, and get someone to thaw out vanitas" he then left to his quarters.

His plan was unfolding, the girl had accepted darkness and now it would be much easier to gain control of her, once you get a taste of the power darkness can offer, you become obsessed with it.

"you lied to me"

xehanort quickly turned around and saw the replica… no, it wasn't the replica. It was ria! She was here!.

"ah, I see you have learned how to travel through dark corridors. Well done, my dear. Your abilities have improved greatly" he said with admiration in his voice, ria reminded him of himself when he was young. Willing and eager to learn the power that darkness had to offer.

"you lied to me, my mother didn't do anything to you! You killed her because you felt like it!" she shouted.

"i see you have met your father, I should have killed that fool, but no matter"

"why?! What gave you a reason to do that to her!?" she asked. Xehanort could feel the anger in her voice.

"i needed a pure heart" he said simply "there are only two places to obtain pure hearts, from a princess of heart, or a child. Children have almost no amount of darkness inside them, so they make the perfect vessels for pure darkness. do not think you were my first choice, there were many other children I used before I found you, but alas, they did not have the fortitude you had for such… strenuous trials"

"why? What would filling my heart with darkness do?" she asked, her keyblade pointed at him.

"all you must know is that I require a heart of pure light and a heart of pure darkness."

"for what?, answer me!"

"no… you are not ready to know my goal" he said bitterly.

"then I'll beat the answer out of you!" she shouted.

"yes… savor that rage, let your judgment be clouded by your emotions, let anger and hatred be your guide… anger and hate are rawest of human emotions, fuel the fire that feeds your rage" he said.

"no…" she said. Dispelling her keyblade. "i'm not like you, im better than this" she opened a corridor of darkness, what was she thinking, coming here? This was a horrible idea. she was angry, but she knew that was what he wanted her to feel.

"you know…" Xehanort said, stopping her. "your mother bled quite a lot, you watched the whole thing, yet you barely reacted. What kind of daughter dosen't cry at the sight of their dying mother?

"shut up!" she charged toward him and he guarded and grabbed her by the neck, he then tossed her halfway across the room, she collided with a table.

"your emotions betray you. if you cannot control the way you feel, then you will never be able to control your power, it will consume you. But that will be nothing but a benefit to my plan. Do you know what happens to people who are consumed by the darkness? They do not become feral animals who kill and destroy anything that stands in their way, they become docile, mindless servants to whoever is superior."

"i hate you… so much!" ria said as her eyes began to glow.

"good, savor that hatred, you are far to nice for your own good, my dear"

she threw a dark fireball at him which he reflected back at her, it hit her in the stomach.

"a good try, but you cannot hurt me. you think darkness is your ally… you merely adopted the dark, I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I became a man, until then it was nothing to me but blinding, and it will be the same for you as well. until then, I shall spare you, mainly because you still have much to learn. So go, pickup whats left of your pride and leave this old man to himself" he said, sitting in his chair. Ria did soon leave his presence. even though he wanted her here, she still wasn't ready, she was still weak, and being locked in a cage wasn't going to make her stronger. Patience was the key to this game.

* * *

**A/N: _so, i'm going to be taking a short break from this story for awhile, not because i'm running out of ideas for each chapter, I just feel like I need to try something different and perfect my writing for a bit. I am not abandoning this story though, I will still update this story while also working on another that will allow me a little more creative freedom. Thank you for reading, you guys are awesome._**


	24. Chapter 24 :The meaning of light

It was early in the morning as sora, ria and riku began loading up the gummi ship, preparing to travel the worlds once more.

Things had been pretty stressful for sora ever since he returned to the island. One of the first things was watching one of his friends dying and then being resurrected in a fit of dark rage, the other was the stern talk and grounding he received from his mother, who still didn't believe that he was on a quest to save the entire universe. He actually had to sneak out of his house just to be here.

"okay, ship is all packed and ready to go." riku said. "you coming sora?"

"yeah, just give me a second" sora said.

he looked out to the tropical village behind him, he didn't know how long he would be gone, or even if this place would still be here when he got back.

"sora? You okay?" ria said. Putting a supporting hand on his shoulder.

"yeah, i'll be fine-"

"sora!" shouted kairi, who was running frantically towards the gummi ship.

Sora had noticed that kairi's keyblade was somehow being carried on her back. Don't ask sora how, he didn't know.

"i wanna come with you guys" she said while trying to catch her breath, due to all the running.

Ria glanced at kairi. To tell the truth, she didn't want kairi to come. They all knew that she didn't even know how to fight, and when you're going on a quest to save the entire universe from a group of darkness using, black coated freaks. Fighting was kind of a requirement.

Never the less, sora allowed her to join the party.

Ria sighed as she dropped herself into one of the chairs in the cockpit. She wasn't angry at kairi, maybe a little annoyed though.

"you okay?" riku said, sitting next to her. He had been doing this for some time now. Ever since they found out they were siblings. He was always watching her, looking over her shoulder. You know the phrase, big brother is always watching you.

"yeah, im fine" she said to him. "you have any idea where we're going?"

"no clue" he said while standing up. "i guess we'll be going wherever we're needed"

The ship then began to take off. Ria stared out through the window of the cockpit, lost in thought.

She was still trying to ponder what xehanort was going to do with her. She knew he had embedded her heart with darkness for some reason, but she couldn't figure out exactly what reason that was. What was he planning to do with her darkness? and more importantly, was he going to use it to hurt others?

She soon lost her train of thought when she heard a large crash, followed by sirens going off. The gummi ship was also rattling and shaking like crazy.

"whats going on?" kairi asked in a distressed tone.

"we're being attacked!" sora shouted as he tried to keep the ship stable. Who would want to attack them?

"and here I thought this would be difficult" vanitas said as he busted through the cockpit's door.

"vanitas!" riku shouted as he, sora, ria and kairi drew their keyblades.

"so, this is the world famous gummi ship? A bunch of rejected building blocks?" vanitas laughed. Seven nobodies and ten heartless then appeared behind him.

"destroy them" vanitas commanded.

Sora and kairi went to go handle the heartless while riku and ria dealt with the nobodies.

Kairi was an absolute mess on the battle field. Every time she tried to attack, the heartless would block and counter it. She also kept changing combat stances, which only led her to be more vulnerable. If sora wasn't there to watch her back, she might have died.

Riku and ria were having very little trouble in disposing of their foes however. They often found ways of combining their dark energy in ways that had never been done before. One attack even confused their enemies into attacking each other. Once the nobodies were delt with, ria and riku proceeded to assist sora and kairi with the heartless.

The cockpit was soon free of attackers, leaving only vanitas left. He hung his head in shame.

"if you want something done right..." he said. "send out your own mooks!" he shouted as twenty mysterious creatures in many different shapes and sizes began pouring out of vanitas.

"unversed!" riku yelled as he remembered those creatures from Terra's memories.

The unversed began charging as sora and the others tried to defend against them.

No matter how many they killed, more always came. These creatures just wouldn't die!. Eventually those twenty unversed turned into thirty, which became over forty! And their numbers only grew the longer the battle went, sora and the others soon collapsed in exhaustion, one by one.

Vanitas stood over them, laughing with a sinister grin on his face. "this was just too easy" he said as he grabbed ria from the back of her shirt and pulled her unconscious body toward the cargo hold.

He conjured seven unversed to manually control the ship, directing it to approach the atmosphere of the nearest world.

Vanitas smiled in pride of his unversed. They weren't your average mindless spirits of darkness. No, the unversed were actually quite intelligent, almost to the point where they could speak, well they would if vanitas allowed it.

He dropped ria's unconscious body as soon as they reached the cargo hold. He then pulled a lever on the wall which opened a large hatch behind the gummi ship, this was where cargo would be loaded and unloaded.

Ria soon regained consciousness, once she saw vanitas she redrew her keyblade and charged. Vanitas heard her footsteps and grabbed and lifted her by the neck, he then dangled her out the hatch. She yellped as soon as she looked down.

"aww, whats the matter? Afraid of heights?" vaitas said sarcastically as he dangled her over the edge. They were close enough to the world to allow gravity to take hold. Which would mean ria would plummet to her death.

"go to hell" she said with anger in her voice.

"that's a good idea" vanitas said. "I'LL MEET YOU THERE!" he shouted as he released her, causing gravity to send her falling.

Vanitas smiled as he heard her screaming as she fell, this was just a test however. She wasn't actually going to die. But the same couldn't be said about ria's little friends.

* * *

She was falling from what must have been a hundred feet. Her breathing was frantic and she could feel her heart racing. She held her hands in front of her in a desperate attempt to save herself, she tried to conjure a dark corridor.

"take me anywhere! Take me anywhere! TAKE ME ANYWHERE!" she shouted as the corridor opened and she fell right in it.

She landed hard on what felt like a stone pavement. The dark corridor must have done something to break her fall because she didn't really feel any pain and she was sure that no bones were broken. Once she stood up, she could see that the corridor had taken her back to radiant garden, she could tell by the gigantic castle that loomed over the whole town. From the looks of it, she must have been in the village district. Well, not that big of a deal. She'd just conjure another dark corridor and go assist sora.

"blasted heartless!" she heard an elderly man shout. Sora would have to wait, someone needs help!.

She followed the shout and found an old man that had a beard that went all the way down to his knees in length, he was also wearing a blue robe.

The heartless had him cornered as they swiped something out of his hands and ran.

"hey!" ria shouted, gaining the heartless' attention. They didn't seem very happy. "it's wrong to take things that aren't yours!" she said as she summoned her keyblade.

The heartless then began cornering her.

"you wanna fight? Okay, come get some!" she shouted as she began slashing and hacking any and all heartless who came in her way. Once the last one was destroyed, a small book was found laying on the pavement. That must have been what they were after. She went to pick it up. It was titled… _Winnie the pooh and the adventures of the 100 acre wood._

"oh, thank you for the assistance, young madam" the old man said as he approached ria. "now, if you'll be so kind as to return my book"

"of course" ria said, returning the book to him.

He then escorted her into his house which had hundreds if not thousands of books scattered around his small home, they were literally all over the floor.

"umm, sir?" ria asked the old man.

"Merlin, my dear. Call me Merlin" he said.

"okay, Merlin. Whats so important about that book? Why do the heartless want it?" she asked.

"ahh, a fine question, my dear." he said. "this book is a very powerful artifact. The pages of this tome contain…" he got close and whispered "the true meaning of light"

"really?" she asked in a surprised tone.

"oh, yes. It has the ability to teach anybody the true meaning of the power we call light." he said in pride.

"even a darkness user?" she asked. Maybe this was her way to expel the darkness.

"hmm? Oh yes! I am fairly certain that it can even introduce light to someone who is deeply attuned to the foul powers of darkness. I suppose we should have maleficent read it one day" Merlin laughed.

"umm, merlin? Would it be okay if… I read the book?" she asked.

"well… I don't see what the harm is. Go ahead, have a gander" merlin said as he opened the book and held it in front of ria. It didn't really have any words though. It looked more like a map. But then, as ria looked closer into the pages, they began to shimmer until a bright flash of light blinded her vision.

When her vision returned, she found herself lying down on a bed of leaves in some kind of forest.

She sighed in disappointment. _Book that teaches the true meaning of light, more like book that teaches you not to trust old wizards!_ She thought.

Well, getting out of here should be easy, all she has to do is open another dark corridor.

"take me to sora" she said as she held her hands out in front of her. It wasn't working.

"take me to sora!" she said in a louder and more annoyed tone. Nothing happened.

"okay… fire!" she said as she held her hand forward. Hoping to shoot a dark fireball to test if her powers were still working. Now she couldn't even do that.

What was going on? Her powers had just stopped for some reason. Oh no! What if the book just gets rid of darkness?! Great, now she's powerless! How is she going to save the worlds now?

Her worried thoughts were gone when she heard gentle humming in a direction to the north. Maybe someone could at least tell her where she was.

As she followed the gentle humming, she soon came across a small house that looked to be build into a tree.

"aww, what a cute little bear" she said as she saw a small, yellow bear wearing a red shirt. He was siting on a log that was sitting outside the house, which must have been his. He must be friendly, nothing that adorable could ever be dangerous.

"excuse me, do you know where I am?" she said as she approached the small bear.

"oh hello there, somebody I don't know" he greeted. Even his voice was adorable. "you're in the hundred acre wood" he said.

Hundred acre wood? That was the book's title. Ooh, she must be inside the book!.

"i'm Winnie the pooh by the way, but my friends just call me pooh" he said.

"i'm ria. Nice to meet you, pooh" she said. "what are you doing out here?" she asked.

"well, miss Ria, I was just thinking about how i'm supposed to get more honey. I've ran out" he said as he pointed to the many honey pots that all piled up against his front door.

"you must really like honey" she said.

"well, bears love honey, and I'm a pooh bear, so it's kind of my job to love honey" he said. "ohh! I've got an idea!" he then moved the honey pots out of his way so that he could enter his house.

He soon returned outside with a balloon in hand, he must have been incredibly light, because the balloon was carrying him off the ground.

"how are you going to get honey with that?" ria asked.

"you'll see, now if you'll be so kind as to take me to a very muddy place, of which I know of?" he said.

And so ria took pooh to the very muddy place. After arriving, pooh proceeded to roll around in the mud until all of his fur was black.

"what are you supposed to be?" ria asked while giggling.

"I'm a little black rain cloud" he said. "and I shall use this disguise to fly up to the honey tree, see?" he then began walking to the tree with his balloon in hand, ria followed him.

Once they got there, ria seemed rather concerned. The tree was buzzing with the sound of bees. What if the poor little bear gets hurt.

"would you please help some more. I need a boost" he said.

"okay… one"

"yes"

"two"

"yes"

"three!" Ria shouted as she sent the balloon and pooh into the air. He then began to sing a little song.

"_oh im just a little black rain cloud, hovering under the honey tree, on im just a little black rain cloud, pay no attention to me"_

ria sang along while sitting against a rock with her legs crossed, maybe the bees would believe it.

"_everyone knows that a rain cloud never eats honey, no not a nip"_

"_I'm just floating around, over the ground. Wondering where I will drip"_

a bee soon began flying around him.

"miss ria, I believe the bees are growing rather curious" he said.

"perhaps they think your after they're honey?"

"i suppose so, you never can tell with bees"pooh said as he dipped his hand into the tree, pulling out a small handful of honey.

"_oh I'm just a little black rain cloud, hovering under the honey tree"_ the bees soon began growing suspicious of his bright colored blue balloon which one of then then stung, causing it to pop and and sending pooh falling.

"i'll catch you pooh!" she shouted as he fell into her arms.

"why, thank you miss ria" he said as she gently put him down

"it looks like your plan didn't work. What are you going to do now?" she asked.

"maybe I'll see if my good friend rabbit has a small helping of honey for me, goodbye" he said, walking away.

"_bears love honey and I'm a pooh bear" _he sang.

Ria smiled as she watched the small stuffed bear walk away. She now understood. This bear just had his plan blow up in his face, but he wasn't sad or angry, he was just… happy. He was also just as sweet and innocent as when she first saw him. That was it, that must have been the meaning of light… innocence.

A small tear fell down ria's face as she contemplated this. It wasn't a tear of sadness, it was a small tear of happiness.

A portal of light soon opened behind her, that must have been that way out. She took one last look at the hundred acre wood before leaving. Maybe she'll return someday.

The portal had sent her back into merlin's home.

"ahh, you are back" the old wizard said. "and how was your experience?"

"thank you" was all she said as she walked through a corridor of darkness, off to search for her friends.

* * *

**A/N: _OH YEAH! She who is one with the darkness is back! And it's only going to get better from here! thanks for reading!_**


End file.
